LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


A  HISTORY 


OF   THE 


PEOPLE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 


FROM  THE  REVOLUTION  TO  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 


BY 
JOHN   BACH  McMASTER. 


SIX  VOLUMES. 
VOLUME    I. 


NEW  YORK: 
D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY, 

72    FIFTH    AVENUE. 
1898. 


COPYIUGHT  BY 

D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY. 


7 


CONTENTS  OF  VOLUME  I. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

Introduction  .         . 1?  2 

Boundaries  of  the  United  States 3 

v    Scattered  state  of  the  settlements i; .        .4 

The  Indians  .  .  5_8 

*  Population .  9 

~*  Occupations  of  the  people     .         .         .         . 10- 

x  Boston 11 

Names  of  the  streets 12 

Building  at  Boston         .         . 13 

Furniture  of  the  houses          .         .-.'''. 14 

xJ3ooks  read 14,  15 

Education  of  women 15 

Shops  of  Boston  .    '     .  16 

Fruits  and  vegetables  not  known 17 

The  New  England  fanner       .         .         .         . 18 

His  dress,  education,  habits 18,  19 

His  religion 20 

The  New  England  school-master    .         .         .         ...         .         .         .        21,  22 

Education  of  children 24 

Harvard  College 25,  26 

Lack  of  schools  in  the  southern  States 2b,  27 

The  doctor 27 

His  education 28 

His  practice 29 

His  medicines 30 

The  minister 31 

His  bigotry 32,  3S 

His  poverty 34 

His  sermons 35 

^XNewspapers 35,  36 

Their  contents  and  appearance 37,  38 


iv  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

The  post-office 40 

Mails,  and  number  of  letters  carried       .         .         .         .'.         .         .       41, 42 

Post-riders 42,  43 

Insecurity  of  the  mails  ;  use  of  ciphers 43 

Stage-coaches 44 

Distance  travelled  each  day 45 

Lack  of  bridges 46 

Ferries  at  Brooklyn  and  Paulus  Hook 46,  47 

Dangers  of  the  ferries 48 

Packet-boats 49 

Ocean-travel .     51 

Badness  of  the  roads .     52 

New  York  city 53 

Roads  out  of  the  city 54 

Famous  houses  in 54 

Dutch  language  and  customs  in 55 

Dutch  church 55,  56 

The  Methodists 56,  57 

Towns  along  the  Hudson 58 

Albany.     Habits  of  the  people ;  the  shops 59 

Houses  and  filthiness  of  the  city 60 

Valley  of  the  Mohawk 60,  61 

New  England  towns 61 

Spinning  bees 62 

Whale-fishery 63 

Nantucket 63,  64 

Philadelphia 64 

Dress  of  the  inhabitants 65 

Dancing  assemblies        .         .         . 66 

Road  to  Pittsburg 67,  68 

Pittsburg 69 

Kentucky  flat-boats 69 

Virginia 72 

Manor-houses 72 

Virginia  gentlemen        .         . 73-75 

State  of  literature 75-78 

Cost  of  books .79 

Lack  of  Bristol-board 79 

Architecture 80 

Fine  arts 81,  82 

Baltimore  described       .         .- ' .         .83 

Theatre         .         .     • 84 

Opposition  to  the  theatre  at  Philadelphia  and  New  York        .         .         .        85-92 

Opposition  at  Boston 93 

Theatre  broken  up 94,  95 

Laboring  classes ^% .         .         .         .        96,97 

House-maids 97 

The  jails  and  prisons 98,  99 


CONTENTS.  T 

PAGE 

Terrors  of 99^  100 

Punishments  for  crime 100,  101 


CHAPTER   II. 

Return  of  peace 103 

Washington's  farewell  to  his  officers 104 

Washington  resigns  his  command .         .105 

Stipulation  touching  the  refugees 107 

The  Whigs .  108 

Hatred  of  the  refugees •    .         .         .         .109,  110 

Advice  to  the  refugees 110,  111 

The  refugees  at  St.  John 112,113 

"  Familiar  Question " .         .         .114 

"  Independence  fever  " 114 

Antipathy  to  the  refugees  in  N"ew  England    . 116 

At  New  York 118 

The  Alienation  Bill 119 

Meeting  at  Vandewater's 120 

Whig  meeting  in  Westchester  county 121 

Meeting  of  the  Whig  Society          .         .         . 122 

Tories  tarred  and  feathered  in  New  Jersey 123 

The  Trespass  Act 124 

Hamilton  defends  the  Tories 125 

Character  of  Hamilton 125-127 

Letters  of  Phocion 127 

Letters  of  Mentor 127 

Attempt  to  kill  Hamilton 128 

Treatment  of  the  refugees  in  the  South 128 

Numbers  killed  in  South  Carolina 129 

Love  hanged  at  Ninety-Six 130 

Condition  of  Congress 130 

System  of  representation .131 

Slim  attendance  of  delegates 132 

Contempt  felt  for  Congress 133-136 

"A  Shorter  Catechism" 137 

Cost  of  the  war 139 

Cost  of  Government  for  1784 139 

Ways  of  raising  a  revenue 140 

Western  lands 140 

Impost 141,  142 

Articles  to  be  taxed 142,  143 

Supplementary  funds 143 

Appeal  for  the  impost  and  supplementary  funds 144 

Strictures  of  "  Calca  "  on  Congress         .  145,  146 

Of  "  Rough  Hewer  "       .         .         .         .         „ 147 

"Virginia's  possessions  in  the  West          .  148 

Fort  Pitt,  Losantiville,  Vincennea  .  .  148 


VI 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Virginia  cedes  her  lands  north  of  the  Ohio    .         .         „         .         .         .         .150 

Thomas  Paine  attacks  the  act  of  session 150 

Character  of  Thomas  Paine 150-154 

Virginia  grants  the  impost     .         . 154 

North  Carolina  cedes  her  western  lands 155,  156 

Anger  of  the  people 157 

Convention  called  to  meet  at  Jonesboro 158 

An  address  issued 159 

A  second  convention  at  Jonesboro          .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .160 

The  act  of  session  rescinded .         .         .161 

Character  of  John  Sevier 161-163 

Discontent  in  Kentucky .    163,  164 

Plan  to  lay  out  new  States  in  the  West 165 

Names  of  the  proposed  States        .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .    165,  166 

Attempt  to  forbid  slavery  in  the  new  States 167 

Opposition  to  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati 167,  168 

Franklin  ridicules  it 169 

Samuel  Adams  opposes  it  . 170 

John  Adams  opposes  it 171 

The  press  attacks  it 172 

Character  of  vEdanus  Burke 173,  174 

His  pamphlet  on  the  Cincinnati .         .174 

Mirabeau  attacks  the  society 175 

Commutation  Act 177 

Anger  of  the  people  at 178 

Character  of  Samuel  Adams 178-180 

Middletown  Convention.     Xoah  Webster 180 

Newburg  Addresses 181-183 

Meeting  of  the  Lancaster  troops 183 

Congress  driven  to  Princeton 184 

Anger  of  the  people  at  the  flight 184,  185 

Opposition  to  a  standing  army 185,  186 

The  army  disbanded 186 

Resignation  of  Lincoln  and  Morris 187 

•  Character  of  Robert  Morris 187,188 

Character  of  Gouverneur  Morris 188,  189 

Coin  in  circulation  in  1830     .         . 189 

Coin  in  use  in  1784 f  190,  191 

Counterfeit  coin     ............  191 

Clipping 192 

Gouverneur  Morris's  plan  for  a  national  coinage 194-197 

Jefferson's  plan 197,  198 

Criticism  of  Morris  on 199 

Congress  takes  a  recess 200 

The  Whig  party 201 

Dread  of  enlarging  the  powers  of  Congress 202 

.State  of  trade  and  commerce 204-207 

Congress  asks  power  to  regulate  trade    ...  .  208 


CONTENTS.  vii 

PAGE 

Committee  of  the  States 209 

It  adjourns 2  LO 

Wyoming  controversy 210 

Flood  in  Wyoming  valley    ' 211 

Conduct  of  the  Pennsylvanians      .         .         .         .  .         .         .    212,  213 

Suffering  of  the  valley  settlers       . 213,  214 

The  censors  defied 215,  216 

Visit  of  Lafayette  to  the  United  States .         .  216 

His  reception  at  Boston 217 

At  Marblehead,  Salem,  and  Philadelphia        .         .  .         .         .         .218 

Case  of  Rutgers  vs.  Waddington    .         .         .         .  .         .         .         .219 

CHAPTER   III. 

Jefferson  made  minister  to  France          ........  221 

French  society  in  1784 222,  223 

Balloons  invented 222 

Ignorance  of  foreigners  touching  America 224,  225 

Feeling  in  England  toward  America 226 

The  foreign  loan  exhausted 227 

Journey  of  Adams  to  Amsterdam 228 

He  seeks  aid  of  the  regency 229 

Secures  a  loan  from  the  Jews ,  230 

English  Bishops  refuse  to  ordain  Americans 230-232 

Treaty  with  Prussia 232 

Adams  sent  to  London 233 

His  audience  of  the  King 234 

Of  Carmarthen 234-236 

The  debts.     Views  of  Americans  on  236-238 

Views  of  the  British  on 238-239 

Character  of  William  Pitt 239,  240 

Adams's  interview  with  Pitt 240-243 

Treatment  of  Adams .    244-245 

Popular  opinions  on  regulation  of  trade 246-249 

"  Miss  Columbia  " 250 

The  Federal  City 251-253 

Complaints  against  British  factors 255,  256 

Boston  trade  resolutions 256 

Massachusetts  urges  a  convention  of  the  States 258 

Her  delegates  refuse  to  lay  the  matter  before  Congress  ....    258,  259 

First  voyage  of  an  American  ship  to  China 260-262 

North  Carolina  asked  to  re-cede  her  western  lands 263 

The  State  of  Franklin  formed 263 

Currency  of  the  State 264 

Petition  to  New  York  Legislature  in  support  of  the  impost    ....  266 

Reply  of  Sidney 267 

State  of  parties  at  New  York         .........    268,  269 

The  Chamber  of  Commerce  supports  the  impost     ...=,..  270 


riii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

The  circular  to  the  States  and  counties 271 

Parties  in  Virginia 272 

Petitions  from  Norfolk,  Suffolk,  Portsmouth,  Alexandria       ....  273 

Characters  of  Harrison,  Braxton,  and  Smith 274,  275 

A  navigation  act.  debated  in  Virginia 276 

The  boundary  commission 278 

"Virginia  calls  a  trade  convention 279,  280 

Paper-money  party         .  281 

Paper  money  in  Maryland      .........    282,  283 

In  Pennsylvania 284 

In  North  Carolina 285 

In  South  Carolina 286 

The  "  Hint  Club  "...  ....  287 

Paper  money  in  Georgia 288 

Mechanics  refuse  to  take  it    ..........  288 

Merchants  obtain  a  forcing  act 288 

Paper  money  in  Virginia 289 

Patriotic  Society 289 

Paper  money  in  New  York 290 

Arguments  of  "  Honestus " 291 

Of  Thomas  Paine 292 

Attempt  to  prevent  depreciation 293 

Paper  money  in  New  Jersey .         .  294 

Exportation  of  coin  from  Boston 29i 

Rise  of  cotton  and  woollen  industries  in  New  England 295 

Ark wright  machines •        .         .         .  296 

Attempt  to  bring  them  to  America 297 

The  first  in  the  United  States 297,  298 

Condition  of  the  people  of  New  England  in  1786 299 

Debts  in  Massachusetts        • 300,  301 

The  lawyers  denounced 302,  303 

Paper  money  and  tender  laws  rejected  in  Massachusetts         .         .  .  304 

County  and  town  conventions 305 

Courts  and  lawyers  complained  of 306 

Courts  at  Worcester  broken  up      ....'.....  307 

Mob  at  Concord 308 

At  Great  Barrington 309,  311 

Shays  leads  the  mob  at  Springfield 310 

The  General  Court .    311,312 

Convention  of  Worcester  county 312 

Mob  at  Worcester .  313 

Economical  league  at  Boston 313,  314 

At  Hartford 314 

Warrants  issued  against  the  malcontents 315 

Capture  of  Parker  and  Page 315 

Of  Shattuck ...  316 

Shays  marches  into  Worcester «         .316 

Boston  put  in  a  state  of  defence    .         .         .        *         .        c  «•         .317 


CONTENTS.  ix 

PAGE 

Retreat  of  Shays 317 

Massachusetts  raises  an  army 318 

Its  character 319 

Mob  at  Springfield 320 

They  attack  Shepard,  and  are  defeated 321 

Lincoln  reaches  Springfield 322 

Shays  retreats 322 

Lincoln  pursues 323 

Suffering  of  the  troops 324 

Rout  of  Shays 325 

Disturbances  in  Berkshire 325,  326 

Theodore  Sedgwick 326 

Letter  of  Eli  Parsons 327 

The  States  order  the  arrest  of  rebels  coming  within  their  borders  .         .         .  328 

Conduct  of  Vermont 329 

Conduct  of  Rhode  Island 330 

Paper-money  party  in 331 

Paper  money  issued 332 

Forcing  Act 333 

Effect  of,  on  business 333,  334 

Scarcity  of  food    T'       .         . 334 

Riot  at  Newport 335 

Money  raised  at  Providence  to  buy  bread 336 

County  conventions 336,  337 

The  Forcing  Act  in  court .  338 

Declared  unconstitutional 338 

The  judges  summoned  before  the  Legislature 339 

The  Test  Oath  proposed .  339 

Rejected  by  the  people  . 340 

Paper  money  used  to  lift  mortgages       .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .341 

Troubles  in  New  Hampshire  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .341,  342 

Debts  in 343 

Lawyers  complained  of .......  .  344 

General  Court  attached .    345   345 

Paper-money  party  in  Vermont 347-349 

Mob  at  Rutland 350 

At  Windsor _  351 

Specific  Tender  Act .352 

Court  stopped  at  Rutland .  353,  354 


CHAPTER   IV. 

The  national  debt .  355 

Ways  of  raising  money 358 

Character  of  Rufus  King .359 

Congress  again  urges  the  impost 360 

Acts  of  the  States  on  the  regulation  of  trade 361 

Barbary  piracies    ...                                                                                  .  362 


x  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

New  Jersey  refuses  her  quota        .         .         . 363 

Congress  remonstrates 365,  366 

Petition  to  New  York  Legislature  in  support  of  the  impost    .         .         .         .367 

Keply  of  "  Gustavus  " 368 

Character  of  George  Clinton 369 

Congress  asks  him  to  call  a  special  meeting  of  the  Legislature  to  consider  the 

impost ;  he  refuses 370 

Navigation  of  the  Mississippi  river 371 

Secret  article  regarding 372 

Spain  refuses  to  open  the  Mississippi 372 

Popular  feeling  on  the  refusal 373,  374 

The  matter  in  Congress 375 

Amis  sends  a  flat-boat  down  the  river 376 

The  Spaniards  seize  it 376 

Indignation  in  Kentucky 377 

Character  of  John  Jay 377 

'He  proposes  to  close  the  Mississippi 378,379 

Spanish  property  seized  at  Vincennes 380 

Kentucky  protests  against  closing  the  river 381 

Feeling  in  the  West 382,  383 

Sevier  attacks  the  Cherokees 385 

Clark's  Wabash  expedition 386,  387 

Logan's  expedition  to  Mad  river 388 

Virginia  protests  against  closing  the  Mississippi 389 

The  Annapolis  Convention 390 

The  Federal  Convention  at  Philadelphia  called 390- 

Delegates  chosen  to  the  Philadelphia  Convention 391 

Contempt  felt  for  Rhode  Island 392 

"  Know  Ye  men  and  measures."     "  Rogue's  Island  " 393 

Debate  on  the  Federal  Convention  in  Connecticut 394-397 

New  York  urges  Congress  to  call  a  convention  of  States  to  revise  the  Articles 

of  Confederation  399 

Massachusetts  does  the  same          . 399 

The  Philadelphia  Convention  approved  by  Congress 399 

State  of  the  coin 400 

Coin  current  in  New  York 401 

Birmingham  coppers 401 

Loss  to  the  State  by  counterfeiters         . 402 

Coppers  in  New  Jersey  and  Virginia 402 

Coinage  Act  of  1785      .         . 403 

Foreign  coins  forbidden  to  circulate 408 

"  Cents  "  struck  by  the  United  States    .         .         .         .     ^   .         .         .  Note,  404 

New  York  taxes  the  shipping  of  her  neighbors 404 

New  Jersey  retaliates 405 

New  London  merchants  retaliate 406 

The  Tripoline  ambassador  calls  on  Adams      .         .         .         .  .         .  406 

Adams  returns  the  visit ;  ludicrous  interview 407,  408 

Price  of  peace  with  Barbary  powers 408 


CONTENTS.  xi 

Barclay  and  Lamb  sent  to  Africa 409 

Barclay's  interview  with  the  Etnperor  of  Morocco 410  411 

Treaty  with  Morocco 412 

Spanish  claims  to  the  Mississippi 41 25  413 

Virginia  disclaims  the  action  of  Clark  at  Vincennes 413 

Jay's  negotiations  with  Gardoqui 414 

Debate  in  Congress  on  Jay's  conduct 415,  416 

The  Federal  Convention 417 

The^Convention  organizes 418 

Sketch  of  the  members 419  420 

Character  of  Franklin 421,  423 

Complaints  of  hard  times 423   424- 

Money  wasted  on  horse-racing,  cock-fighting,  and  betting,  in  Virginia    .   424,  425 

Scarcity  of  money  ridiculed 425 

Franklin's  "  Consolation  for  America  " 426  427 

Webster's  attempt  to  reform  English  spelling 428 

His  lectures 429,  430 

The  Independent  Gazetteer  attacks  his  book 430 

Webster  replies 43 1?  432 

His  reforms  ridiculed .         .         .    431   432 

Steam  navigation  begun 432 

Character  of  John  Fitch 432  433 

He  invents  a  steamboat 433 

Seeks  aid  of  Congress 433 

Of  Gardoqui 433 

A  company  formed  at  Philadelphia 434 

Henry  Voight 434 

Fitch's  steamboats 434 

James  Rumsey's  boat 435 

Popular  interest  in  the  Federal  Convention 436 

Fears  of  a  King 437 

The  work  of  the  Convention  begins 438 

The  Virginia  plan  of  Government 439 

The  South  Carolina  plan .  439 

Debate  on  the  Virginia  plan 440 

Debate  on  representation 442,  443 

Debate  on  the  executive 442 

The  New  Jersey  plan 444 

Hamilton's  resolutions .  445, 

Debate  on  the  New  Jersey  plan 445,  446 

The  Virginia  reported  .  446 

.Debate  on  representation       .         . 446-449 

The  subject  referred  to  a  committee 450 

Report  of  the  committee 450,  451 

Number  of  the  first  House  of  Representatives 451 

The  Constitution  submitted  to  the  Convention 452 

Remarks  of  Franklin 452 

Signing  the  Constitution        .  .   452  453 


xii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  V. 

PAGB 

The  Constitution  before  the  people 454 

Action  of  Pennsylvania  Federalists 455 

Antifederalists  dragged  to  the  Assembly 456 

A  State  Convention  called 457 

Address  of  the  Antifederal  members  of  the  Assembly 458 

Federal  replies 459 

"The  Junto" 460 

Popular  objections  to  the  Constitution 460,  461 

Federal  defence  of  the  Constitution        .         .        .         .  •      .         .         .   462,  463 

Speech  of  James  Wilson 463,  464 

Nicknamed  James  de  Caledonia 464 

Antifederal  abuse  of  "  Great  Names  ".......   465,  466 

Washington  "  a  fool " .         .         .  467 

The  "  New  Roof  " 467 

The  "  New  Breeches  " 467 

"  A  Turk  "  on  the  Constitution 467,  468 

"  Endorsement  "  of  the  Constitution 468 

"  Receipt  for  an  Antifederal  Essay  " 468,  469 

"  Political  Creed  of  Every  Federalist " 469 

"The  well-born*';  origin  of  the  term 469 

Adams's  book  attacked -.   470,471 

Electioneering  in  Pennsylvania 471 

In  Philadelphia 471,  472 

The  Convention  meets 472 

Complaints  of  the  cost 472,  473 

Pennsylvania  ratifies 473 

Rejoicing  at  Philadelphia 473 

Protest  of  the  minority 474 

Delaware  and  New  Jersey  ratify 474 

Antifederal  riot  at  Carlisle 475 

Georgia  ratifies 476 

Connecticut  ratifies „         .         .  476 

Debates  in  the  Massachusetts  Convention 477 

Charges  of  the  Boston  Gazette 478 

Vote  of  Samuel  Adams  changed     .  479 

Paul  Revere  and  the  Boston  mechanics 479 

Massachusetts  ratifies.     Federal  Street  named  in  Boston        ....  479 
Antifederalists  accuse  the  postmasters  of  keeping  back  the  newspapers .         .  480 

Newspapers  not  mail  matter 480,  481 

u  The  Federalist,"  Origin  of 482 

"  The  Gilded  Trap  " 482 

The  first  number  of  "  TheFederalist  " 483 

Popular  opinion  of  "  TheFederalist  " 484 

New  Hampshire  rejects  the  Constitution         .......  484 

Maryland  ratifies 485 

Auspicious  days  ......  ,  •  486 


CONTENTS.  xiij 

PAGE 

South  Carolina  and  New  Hampshire  ratify     .......  487 

Virginia  Convention .         .         .  488 

Character  of  Patrick  Henry 489,  490 

Virginia  ratifies     .  491 

Rejoicing  at  Alexandria 492 

At  Philadelphia- 493,  494 

Popularity  of  the  word  "  Federal  " 494 

Antifederal  riot  at  Providence,  R.  1 495 

At  Albany 496,  497 

New  York  Convention 497,  498 

New  York  ratifies  and  calls  a  new  convention  of  States 499 

Circular  to  the  States 500 

North  Carolina  ratifies 501 

The  new  Government  to  begin  March  4.  1789 502 

Debate  on  the  seat  of  Government 502,  503 

State  of  the  army 504 

The  frontier  posts 504 

Great  immigration  to  Kentucky     ........    504,  505 

The  Ohio  Company  formed 505-507 

Seeks  to  buy  land  of  Congress 507,  508 

The  first  land  job 509-511 

The  Scioto  Land  Company 511,  51 3 

The  Ohio  Company's  purchase 513 

The  Company  sends  out  emigrants 513,  514 

Origin  of  the  name  "  Ohio  " Note,  514 

Marietta  founded 515 

Symmes's  purchase 515 

Losantiville  founded  ;  meaning  of  the  name  .         ......  516 

Rage  for  western  emigration 517 

Attempts  to  discourage  it 518 

Discontent  in  the  West 519 

Wilkinson  sends  a  boat  to  New  Orleans .    520,  521 

And  opens  trade  with  that  city 521 

Wilkinson  and  Lord  Dorchester's  agent 522,  523 

Kentucky  begins  to  trade  with  New  Orleans 523,  524 


CHAPTER   VI. 

Choice  of  presidential  electors 525,  526 

Attempt  to  defeat  Adams 527-529 

Election  of  senators  and  representatives 530,  531 

Preparations  to  receive  Congress  at  New  York 532 

Farewell  to  the  old  Confederation 533 

Slowness  of  the  new  Congress  in  assembling 533,  534 

The  presidential  vote 534,  535 

Advice  to  Congress 535 

Popular  complaint  of  extravagance 536 

Spinning  bees         .  537 


xiv  CONTENTS. 

PAOE 

Washington  sets  out  for  New  York 538 

His  reception  on  the  way 538,  539 

llis  inauguration 540 

A  title  proposed  for  him 540,  541 

Debate  on  titles  in  the  House 541,  542 

Salaries  of  the  President  and  congressmen 542,  543 

Anger  of  the  people  at  the  great  pay  of  congressmen      ....    543,  544  ' 

Debate  on  the  revenue  system 545-  550 

Tonnage 551 

Debate  on  taxing  slaves 552-554 

Amendments  to  the  Constitution 555' 

Debate  on  the  seat  of  Government          . 555-561 

Congress  adjourns 561 

Movement  of  the  centre  of  population  since  1789 562 

Presidential  etiquette 563 

"  Hail,  Columbia  ";  origin  of  the  music  and  words         ....    564,565 

Washington  visits  the  eastern  States 565 

Hancock's  rudeness 565,  566 

The  cabinet 566 

Congress  assembles ;  absence  of  party-men 567 

..The  national  and  State  debts 568 

..Hamilton's  plan  for  funding  the   national   debt   and   assuming   the   State 

debts 569-571 

Speculators  buy  up  certificates  and  final  settlements       ....    571,572 

Opposition  to  funding .    571,  572 

History  of  the  national  debt 572,  573 

Debate  on  funding  and  assumption 574-578 

Assumption  rejected      ...........  580 

Pennsylvania  holds  the  balance  of  power 580 

The  residence  bill  altered 581 

The  supply  bill  thrown  out .581 

Alarm  at  the  state  of  affairs 581,  582 

A  compromise  effected 582 

The  residence  bill  passed 582 

The  assumption  bill  passed 583 

The  first  patent  issued  by  the  United  States  .         .         .         .         .         .         .583 

Popular  anger  over  assumption 583,  584 

.."  Miss  Assumption "      .         } .         .583 

Conduct  of  Congress  denounced 584,  585 

Removal  of  Congress  denounced 585,  586 

Rage  for  lotteries 588 

State  of  the  copper  coinage 589 

Mints  for  striking  coppers 589 

Value  of  the  coppers  in  different  States 590 

They  cease  to  circulate 590 

Suffering  of  the  poor  in  consequence 591 

Common  council  of  New  York  issue  tickets 591 

The  manufacturing  society  do  so  also .         .591 


CONTENTS. 


xv 


PAGE 

Content  in  New  England 592 

Discontent  in  the  South .         .         .  593 

The  Indians  become  troublesome 593,  594 

History  of  the  discovery  of  the  Mississippi  valley  ....    594-596 

Indian  treaties 697 

Harmar  sent  against  the  Indians 598 

Character  of  his  army  .         .         .         .  .         ,         .         .  .  598 

The  Indians  defeat  him 599-601 

Alarm  in  the  West 601,602,603 

Congress  assembles 603 

Jackson  attacks  the  Creek  treaty 604 


HISTORY 


OF    THE 


PEOPLE   OF   THE   UNITED   STATES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    STATE    OF    AMERICA    IN    1784. 

THE  subject  of  my  narrative  is  the  history  of  the  people 
of  the  United  States  of  America  from  the  close  of  the  war  for 
independence  down  to  the  opening  of  the  war  between  the 
States.  In  the  course  of  this  narrative  much,  indeed,  must  be 
written  of  wars,  conspiracies,  and  rebellions ;  of  presidents,  of 
congresses,  of  embassies,  of  treaties,  of  the  ambition  of  politi 
cal  leaders  in  the  senate-house,  and  of  the  rise  of  great  parties 
in  the  nation.  Yet  the  history  of  the  people  shall  be  the 
chief  theme.  At  every  stage  of  the  splendid  progress  which 
separates  the  America  of  Washington  and  Adams  from  the 
America  in  which  we  live,  it  shall  be  my  purpose  to  describe 
the  dress,  the  occupations,  the  amusements,  the  literary  can 
ons  of  the  times ;  to  note  the  changes  of  manners  and  mor 
als;  to  trace  the  growth  of  that  humane  spirit  which  abol 
ished  punishment  for  debt,  which  reformed  the  discipline  of 
prisons  and  of  jails,  and  which  has,  in  our  own  time,  de 
stroyed  slavery  and  lessened  the  miseries  of  dumb  brutes. 
Nor  shall  it  be  less  my  aim  to  recount  the  manifold  improve 
ments  which,  in  a  thousand  ways,  have  multiplied  the  conve 
niences  of  life  and  ministered  to  the  happiness  of  our  race ;  to 
describe  the  rise  and  progress  of  that  long  series  of  mechan 
ical  inventions  and  discoveries  which  is  now  the  admiration 
of  the  world,  and  our  just  pride  and  boast ;  to  tell  how,  under 
the  benign  influence  of  liberty  and  peace,  there  sprang  up,  in 
the  course  of  a  single  century,  a  prosperity  unparalleled  in 

VOL.    I. — 2 


2  THE  STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

the  annals  of  human  affairs ;  how,  from  a  state  of  great  pov 
erty  and  feebleness,  our  country  grew  rapidly  to  one  of  opu 
lence  and  power ;  how  her  agriculture  and  her  manufactures 
flourished  together ;  how,  by  a  wise  system  of  free  education 
and  a  free  press,  knowledge  was  disseminated,  and  the  arts 
and  sciences  advanced ;  how  the  ingenuity  of  her  people  be 
came  fruitful  of  wonders  far  more  astonishing  than  any  of 
which  the  alchemists  had  ever  dreamed. 

Such  a  mingling  of  social  with  political  history  is  neces 
sary  to  a  correct  understanding  of  the  peculiar  circumstances 
under  which  our  nation  was  formed  and  grew  up.  Other 
people  in  other  times  have  become  weary  of  their  rulers,  have 
thrown  off  the  yoke,  have  come  out  of  the  house  of  bondage 
and  set  up  that  form  of  government  which  has  always  been 
thought  the  freest  and  most  perfect.  But  our  ancestors  were 
indeed  a  highly  favored  people.  They  were  descended  from 
the  most  persevering,  the  most  energetic,  the  most  thrifty  of 
races.  They  enjoyed  the  highest  form  of  civilization ;  their 
climate  was  salubrious ;  their  soil  rich ;  their  country  bound 
less  ;  they  were  hampered  by  no  traditions ;  they  were  sur 
rounded  by  no  nations  of  whom  they  stood  in  fear.  Almost 
alone,  in  a  new  land,  they  were  free  to  work  out  their  own 
form  of  government  in  accordance  with  their  own  will.  The 
consequence  has  been  such  a  moral  and  social  advancement 
as  the  world  has  never  seen  before.  The  Americans  who, 
toward  the  close  of  1783,  celebrated  with  bonfires,  with 
cannon,  and  with  bell-ringing,  the  acknowledgment  of  inde 
pendence  and  the  return  of  peace,  lived  in  a  very  different 
country  from  that  with  which  their  descendants  are  familiar. 
Indeed,  could  we,  under  the  potent  influence  of  some  magi 
cian's  drugs,  be  carried  back  through  one  hundred  years,  we 
should  find  ourselves  in  a  country  utterly  new  to  us.  Rip 
Yan  Winkle,  who  fell  asleep  when  his  townsmen  were  throw 
ing  up  their  hats  and  drinking  their  bumpers  to  good  King- 
George,  and  awoke  when  a  generation  that  knew  him  not 
was  shouting  the  names  of  men  and  parties  unknown  to  him, 
did  not  find  himself  in  a  land  more  strange.  The  area  of  the 
republic  would  shrink  to  less  than  half  its  present  extent. 
The  number  of  the  States  would  diminish  to  thirteen,  nor 


1784.  INTRODUCTION.  3 

would  many  of  them  be  contained  in  their  present  limits  or 
exhibit  their  present  appearance.  Vast  stretches  of  upland, 
which  are  now  an  endless  succession  of  wheat-fields  and  corn 
fields  and  orchards,  would  appear  overgrown  with  dense  for 
ests  abandoned  to  savage  beasts  and  yet  more  savage  men. 
The  hamlets  of  a  few  fishermen  would  mark  the  sites  of 
wealthy  havens  now  bristling  with  innumerable  masts,  and 
the  great  cities  themselves  would  dwindle  to  dimensions  scarce 
exceeding  those  of  some  rude  settlement  far  to  the  west  of 
the  Colorado  river.  Of  the  inventions  and  discoveries  which 
abridge  distance,  which  annihilate  time,  which  extend  com 
merce,  which  aid  agriculture,  which  save  labor,  which  trans 
mit  speech,  which  turn  the  darkness  of  the  night  into  the 
brilliancy  of  the  day,  which  alleviate  pain,  which  destroy  dis 
ease,  which  lighten  even  the  infirmities  of  age,  not  one  ex 
isted.  Fulton  was  still  a  portrait-painter,  Fitch  and  Rumsey 
had  not  yet  begun  to  study  the  steam-engine,  Whitney  had 
not  yet  gone  up  to  college.  Howe  and  Morse,  M'Cormick 
and  Fairbanks,  Goodyear  and  Colt,  Dr.  Morton  and  Dr.  Bell, 
vvere  yet  to  be  born. 

By  the  treaty  which  secured  the  independence  of  the 
colonies,  the  boundaries  of  the  region  given  up  by  the  mother 
country  were  clearly  defined.  The  territory  ceded  stretched 
from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  westward  to  the  banks  of  the  Missis 
sippi,  and  from  a  line  running  along  the  great  lakes  on  the 
north  it  spread  southward  to  the  thirty-first  parallel  and  the 
southern  border  of  Georgia.  This  vast  tract  was  parcelled 
out  among  the  thirteen  original  States.  Of  the  thirteen,  seven 
had  well-defined  boundaries ;  of  the  remaining  six,  some  laid 
claim  to  lands  since  given  to  other  States,  while  a  few  would 
content  themselves  with  no  limits  short  of  the  waters  of  the 
Mississippi  river. 

But.-jkough  the  Fourth  of  July  orators  then  boasted  that 
their  country  extended  over  fifteen  hundred  miles  in  length, 
and  spread  westward  across  plains  of  marvellous  fertility  into 
regions  yet  unexplored  by  man,  they  had  but  to  look  about 
them  to  see  that  the  States  were  indeed  but  little  better  than 
a  great  wilderness.  A  narrow  line  of  towns  and  hamlets  ex 
tended,  with  many  breaks,  along  the  coast  from  the  province 


4  THE   STATE   OF   AMERICA  IN    1784.  CHAP.  i. 

of  Maine  to  Georgia.  Maine  was  still  owned  by  Massachu 
setts,  and  did  not  contain  one  hundred  thousand  souls.  Port 
land  existed,  then  Falmouth,  and  along  the  shore  were  a  few 
fishers'  cots,  built  of  rough-hewn  logs,  and  thatched  with  sea 
weed.  But  an  almost  unbroken  solitude  lay  between  Port 
land  and  the  St.  Lawrence.  In  New  Hampshire  a  few  hardy 
adventurers  had  marked  out  the  sites  of  villages  in  the  White 
Mountains.  In  New  York,  Albany  was  settled,  and  Schenec- 
tady  ;  but  the  rich  valleys  through  which  the  Mohawk  and  the 
Genesee  flow  down  to  join  the  Hudson  and  the  lake,  were  the 
hunting-grounds  of  the  Oneidas,  the  Mohawks,  the  Cayugas. 
In  Pennsylvania,  dense  forests  and  impassable  morasses  cov 
ered  that  region  where  rich  deposits  of  iron  and  of  coal  have 
since  produced  the  Birmingham  of  America.  In  Virginia, 
a  straggling  village  or  two  was  to  be  found  about  the  head 
waters  of  the  Potomac  and  the  James.  Beyond  the  Blue 
Ridge,  Daniel  Boone  was  fighting  the  Cherokees  in  the  cane- 
brakes  of  Kentucky.  Some  villages  of  log  huts  surrounded 
by  stockades  were  rising  on  the  fertile  plains  of  western 
Tennessee.  A  handful  of  pioneers  had  settled  at  Natchez. 
Pittsburgh  was  a  military  post.  St.  Louis  was  begun,  but  the 
very  name  of  the  village  was  unknown  to  nine  tenths  of  the 
Americans.  So  late  as  1795,  Cincinnati  consisted  of  ninety- 
five  log  cabins  and  five  hundred  souls.  In  truth,  that  splen 
did  section  of  our  country  drained  by  the  Ohio  and  the  Ten 
nessee  was  one  vast  solitude.  Buffaloes  wandered  in  herds 
over  the  rich  plains  now  the  granaries  of  Europe.  Forests 
of  oak  and  sycamore  grew  thick  on  the  site  of  many  great 
and  opulent  cities  whose  population  now  exceeds  that  of  Vir 
ginia  during  the  revolution,  and  whose  names  are  spoken 
in  the  remotest  corner  of  the  civilized  world.  No  white 
man  had  yet  beheld  the  source  of  the  Mississippi  river. 
Of  the  country  beyond  the  Mississippi  little  more  was 
known  than  of  the  heart  of  Africa.  Now  and  then  some 
weather-beaten  trapper  came  from  it  to  the  frontiers  of 
the  States  with  stories  of  great  plains  as  level  as  the  floor, 
where  the  grass  grew  higher  than  the  waist,  where  the 
flowers  were  more  beautiful  than  in  the  best  kept  garden, 
where  trees  were  never  seen,  and  where  the  Indians  still 


1784.  INDIAN   CHARACTER.  5 

looked  upon  the  white  man  as  a  god.  But  this  country  lay 
far  to  the  west  of  the  frontier,  and  the  frontier  was  wilder 
then  than  Wyoming  is  now.  There  the  white  man  lived  in 
an  unending  war  with  the  red  man. 

The  opinion  which  many  carelul  and  just-minded  persons 
of  our  time  have  formed  touching  the  Indians  of  whom  the 
settlers  in  the  border-land  then  stood  in  constant  dread,  is  a 
singular  mixture  of  truth  and  romance.  Time  and  absence 
have  softened  all  that  is  vile  and  repulsive  in  his  character, 
and  left  in  full  relief  all  that  is  good  and  alluring.  We  are 
in  no  danger  of  being  tomahawked.  We  are  not  terrified  by 
his  war-whoop.  An  Indian  in  his  paint  and  feathers  is  now  a 
much  rarer  show  than  a  Bengal  tiger  or  a  white  bear  from  the 
Polar  sea.  Of  the  fifty  millions  of  human  beings  scattered 
over  the  land,  not  five  millions  have  ever  in  their  lives  looked 
upon  an  Indian.  We  are  therefore  much  more  disposed  to 
pity  than  to  hate.  But,  one  hundred  years  ago$  there  were  to 
be  found,  from  Cape  Ann  to  Georgia,  few  men  who  had  not 
many  times  in  their  lives  seen  numbers  of  Indians,  while  thou 
sands  could  be  found  scattered  through  every  State,  whose 
cattle  had  been  driven  off,  and  whose  homes  had  been  laid 
in  ashes  by  the  braves  of  the  Six  Nations,  who  had  fought 
with  them  from  behind  trees  and  rocks,  and  carried  the  scars 
of  wounds  received  in  hand-to-hand  encounters.  In  every 
city  were  to  be  seen  women  who  had  fled  at  the  dead  of 
night  from  their  burning  cabins ;  who  had,  perhaps,  wit 
nessed  the  destruction  of  Schenectady  ;  or  were  by  a  merciful 
Providence  spared  in  the  massacre  of  the  Minisink  ;  whose  hus 
bands  had  gone  down  in  the  universal  slaughter  of  Wyoming ; 
or  whose  children  had,  on  that  terrible  day  when  Brant  came 
into  Orange  county,  stood  in  the  door  of  the  school-house  when 
the  master  was  dragged  out,  when  their  playmates  were  scalped, 
when  their  aprons  were  marked  with  the  black  mark  which, 
like  the  blood  upon  the  door-posts,  a  second  time  staid  the  hand 
of  the 'Angel  of  Death.  The  opinion  which  such  men  and 
women  held  of  the  noble  red  man  was,  we  may  be  sure,  very 
different  from  those  current  among  the  present  generation,  and 
formed  on  no  better  authority  than  the  novels  of  Cooper,  and 
the  lives  of  such  warriors  as  Red  Jacket  and  Brant. 


6  THE   STATE   OF   AMERICA   IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

Of  the  true  character  of  the  Indian  it  is  difficult  to  give 
any  notion  to  those  who  are  acquainted  with  it  only  as  it  ap 
pears  exalted  or  debased  in  the  pages  of  fiction.  In  him  were 
united  in  a  most  singular  manner  all  the  vices  and  all  the 
arts  which  form  the  weapons,  offensive  and  defensive,  of  the 
weak,  with  many  of  those  high  qualities  which  are  always 
found  associated  with  courage  and  strength.  He  was,  essen 
tially,  a  child  of  Nature,  and  his  character  was  precisely  such 
as  circumstances  made  it.  His  life  was  one  long  struggle  for 
food.  His  daily  food  depended  not  on  the  fertility  of  the  soil 
or  the  abundance  of  the  crops,  but  on  the  skill  with  which  he 
used  his  bow ;  on  the  courage  with  which  he  fought,  single- 
handed,  the  largest  and  fiercest  of  beasts ;  on  the  quickness 
with  which  he  tracked,  and  the  cunning  with  which  he  out 
witted  the  most  timid  and  keen-scented  of  creatures.  His 
knowledge  of  the  habits  of  animals  surpassed  that  of  Audu- 
bon.  The  shrewd  devices  with  which  he  snared  them  would 
have  elicited  the  applause  of  Ulysses ;  the  clearness  of  his 
vision  excelled  that  of  the  oldest  sailor ;  the  sharpness  of  his 
hearing  was  not  equalled  by  that  of  the  deer.  Men  of  a  less- 
gifted  race  were  astounded  at  the  rapidity  with  which  he  fol 
lowed  the  most  obscure  trail  over  the  most  difficult  ground ; 
at  the  perfection  with  which  he  imitated  the  bark  of  the  wolf, 
the  hoot  of  the  owl,  the  whistle  of  the  whippoorwill ;  at  the 
cat-like  tread  with  which,  over  beds  of  autumn-leaves  and 
heaps  of  dried  twigs,  he  walked  to  the  very  side  of  the  graz 
ing  deer.  Nor  Avas  his  success  in  the  hunt  without  its  effect. 
Many  of  the  qualities  of  the  creatures  he  hunted  were,  as  he 
believed,  imbibed  with  their  blood.  Courage,  such  as  enables 
a  man  to  go  through  a  campaign  or  a  battle  with  credit,  such 
as  makes  him  first  in  the  breach  and  last  in  the  retreat,  and 
sends  him,  with  a  measured  step  and  cool  head,  to  the  can 
non's  mouth,  the  brave  possessed  in  the  highest  degree.  Nor 
did  he  lack  a  more  exalted  fortitude.  While  he  underwent  the 
most  excruciating  torture  the  ingenuity  of  his  enemies  could 
devise,  while  his  ears  were  being  lopped  off,  while  his  nose 
was  being  slit,  while  slices  of  flesh  were  being  cut  from  his 
body  and  the  bleeding  wounds  smeared  with  hot  ashes,  while 
his  feet  were  roasting,  while  his  limbs  were  being  torn  with 


J784.  INDIAN   CHARACTER.  7 

hot  splinters,  while  the  flames  leaped  high  about  him,  he 
shouted  his  death-song  with  a  steady  voice  till  his  tormentors 
plucked  out  his  tongue  or  brained  him  with  a  tomahawk. 

Yet  this  man  whose  courage  was  unquestionable,  was 
given  to  the  dark  and  crooked  ways  which  are  the  resort  of 
the  cowardly  and  the  weak.  Much  as  he  loved  war,  the  fair 
and  open  fight  had  no  charms  for  him.  To  his  mind  it  was 
madness  to  take  the  scalp  of  an  enemy  at  the  risk  of  his  own, 
when  he  might  waylay  him  in  an  ambuscade,  or  shoot  him 
with  a  gun  or  an  arrow  from  behind  a  tree.  He  was  never  so 
happy  as  when,  at  the  dead  of  night,  he  roused  his  sleeping 
enemies  with  an  unearthly  yell,  and  massacred  them  by  the 
light  of  their  burning  homes.  Cool  and  brave  men  who  have 
heard  that  whoop,  have  left  us  a  striking  testimony  of  its 
nature ;  how  that  no  number  of  repetitions  could  strip  it  of 
its  terrors ;  how  that,  to  the  very  last,  at  the  sound  of  it  the 
blood  curdled,  the  heart  ceased  to  beat,  and  a  strange  paraly 
sis  seized  upon  the  body.  The  contrast  between  the  savage 
on  the  war-path  and  the  savage  in  his  wigwam  was  indeed 
striking.  When  the  hatchet  was  dug  up,  when  the  war-paint 
was  put  on,  when  the  peace-pipe  was  broken,  the  idle,  shift 
less  savage  was  all  activity.  Patient  of  hunger,  patient  of 
cold,  he  would  march  all  day  through  the  snow  with  the  ther 
mometer  far  below  zero ;  and  at  night,  rolled  in  buffalo  robes, 
go  hungry  to  sleep.  But  when  the  chase  was  over,  when  the 
war  was  done,  and  the  peace-pipe  smoked  out,  he  abandoned 
himself  to  debauchery  and  idleness.  To  sleep  all  day  in  a 
wigwam  of  painted  skins,  filthy  and  blackened  with  smoke, 
adorned  with  scalps,  and  hung  with  tomahawks  and  arrows, 
to  dance  in  the  shine  of  the  new  moon  to  music  made  from 
the  skin  of  snakes,  to  tell  stories  of  witches  and  evil  spirits,  to 
gamble,  to  sing,  to  jest,  to  boast  of  his  achievements  in  war, 
and  to  sit  with  a  solemn  gravity  at  the  councils  of  his  chief, 
constituted  his  most  serious  employment.  His  squaw  was  his 
slave.  With  no  more  affection  than  a  coyote  feels  for  its 
mate,  he  brought  her  to  his  wigwam  that  she  might  gratify 
the  basest  of  his  passions  and  administer  to  his  wants.  It 
was  Starlight  or  Cooing  Dove  that  brought  the  wood  for  his 
fire  and  the  water  for  his  drink,  that  ploughed  the  field  and 


8  THE   STATE   OF   AMERICA  IN    1784.  CITAP.  i. 

sowed  the  maize.  The  bead-work  which  adorned  his  mocca 
sins,  the  porcupine  quills  which  set  off  his  cloak,  were  ar 
ranged  by  her  hands.  When  he  travelled  she  trudged  along 
with  the  pappoose  on  her  back  beside  the  led-horse  that  car 
ried  the  wigwam  and  the  few  pots  and  jars  of  sun-baked  clay. 

The  mental  attainments  of  the  Indian  were  quite  of  a  piece 
with  his  character.  His  imagination  was  singularly  strong, 
his  reason  singularly  weak.  He  was  as  superstitious  as  a  Hot 
tentot  negro  and  as  unreasonable  as  a  child.  When  a  long 
succession  of  fasts  and  gorgings,  when  bad  food  and  fire 
water  had  done  their  worst,  he  awoke  screaming  from  his 
dreams  to  assert  that  a  wolf  had  sat  upon  his  breast,  that  he 
had  been  in  the  clutches  of  Pauguk.  Every  twig  that  fell 
upon  him  in  the  forest  was  an  omen.  The  simplest  occur 
rences  of  life  were  full  of  significance.  If  he  were  sick  some 
enemy  had  brought  it  on  him.  If  misfortune  overtook  him 
it  was  the  work  of  a  medicine  man  or  a  witch  whose  anger 
he  had  excited.  Then  it  \vas  that,  in  his  hour  of  need,  he 
betook  himself  to  the  magic  of  his  medicine  bag  and  the  skill 
of  the  medicine  man,  and,  during  incantations  and  strange 
mutterings  and  exorcisms,  was  beaten  and  bruised  from  head 
to  foot  and  finally  made  to  believe  that  a  toad  or  a  bright 
stone  had  been  taken  out  of  him,  and  was  the  cause  of  his 
ills.  Gray  colors  pleased  him  beyond  expression.  Over  a  red 
blanket  or  a  patchwork  quilt  the  sedate  and  dignified  savage 
would  go  into  raptures  of  delight.  To  possess  it  he  would 
gladly  part  with  a  bundle  of  skins  which  exceeded  it  many 
times  in  value,  or  with  a  hundred  bushels  of  Indian  corn. 

Thus  hemmed  in  on  the  east  by  the  waters  of  the  ocean, 
and  on  the  west  by  a  crafty  and  ever  vigilant  foe,  were  scat 
tered  the  inhabitants  of  the  thirteen  States.  Unfortunately 
the  precise  number  of  the  population  cannot  now  be  ascertained 
with  any  high  degree  of  certainty.  But  from  such  informa 
tion  as  we  have,  it  is  safe  to  say  that,  in  1784,  the  number 
could  not  have  been  far  from  three  millions  and  a  quarter.  It 
has  been  estimated  that  at  the  opening  of  the  war  there  were 
in  the  country,  both  white  and  black,  2,750,000  souls.*  Five 


*  This  estimate  is  given  by  De  Bow,  as  made  from  reliable  sources,     Vol.  iiL 
P,  404, 


1784.  POPULATION   OF   THE   STATES.  9 

years  later  these,  in  spite  of  the  ravages  of  war,  had  increased, 
it  is  thought,  to  2,945,000.*  The  first  periodical  counting  of 
the  people  was  made  in  1790,  and,  from  the  returns  then  sent 
in,  it  appears  that  the  population  was  3,929,214  human  jbeings  f 
—less  than  are  now  to  be  found  in  the  single  State  of  New 
York,  but  a  little  over  three  times  the  number  crowded  within 
the  city  of  New  York,  and  not  many  more  than  a  third  of  the 
number  of  the  men  who  every  four  years  cast  their  votes 
for  a  president.;):  We  may,  therefore,  with  confidence  de 
clare  that  when  peace  was  announced  the  population  of  the 
country  did  not  vary  far  from  three  and  a  quarter  millions. 

Nor  were  these  by  any  means  equally  distributed.  More 
were  in  the  southern  than  in  the  northern  States.  Virginia 
alone  contained  a  fifth,  Pennsylvania  a  ninth,  while  the  five 
states  of  Maryland,  Virginia,  the  two  Carolinas,  and  Georgia, 
counted  as  citizens  almost  one  half  of  all  the  English-speaking 
people  in  America.*  The  reason  is  obvious.  The  southern 
colonies  had  long  before  the  revolution  become  renowned  as 
the  seat  of  a  lucrative  agriculture.  Nowhere  else  could  such 
tobacco  be  raised  as  was  annually  grown  on  the  banks  of  the 
Rappahannock,  the  Potomac,  and  the  James.  The  best  rice 
in  the  English  market  came  from  the  swamps  of  the  Carolinas. 
Georgia  was  already  famous  for  pitch,  for  indigo,  for  tar.  New 
England,  on  the  other  hand,  produced  scarce  enough  corn  and 
rye  for  the  needs  of  her  citizens.  Beyond  a  few  stately  trees, 

*  An  estimate  of  the  white  population  of  the  States  made  in  1783,  for  purposes 
of  assessment,  gives  the  number  as  2,389,300.     American  Remembrancer,  Part  ii, 
1783,  p.  64. 

\  See  United  States  Census  for  1870. 

J  The  popular  vote  in  the  presidential  election  in  the  fall  of  1880  was,  all 
told,  9,192,595. 

*  The  population  of  the  States  in  1790,  soon  increased  to  fifteen  by  the  admis. 
sion  of  Kentucky  and  of  Vermont,  was — 


Connecticut           =   237,946.  * 

New  Jersey        =   184,139. 

Delaware               =     59,094. 

New  York           =   340,120. 

Georgia                 =     82,548. 

North  Carolina   =   393,751. 

Kentucky              =     73,677. 

Rhode  Island      =     68,825. 

Maryland               =   319,728. 

South  Carolina  =  240,073. 

Massachusetts      =  378,787. 

Vermont              =     85,425. 

Maine                    =     96,540.  - 

Virginia               =   747,610. 

New  Hampshire  =   141,885. 

Pennsylvania      =  434,373. 

10  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

suitable  for  masts  for  his  Majesty's  ships  of  war,  the  eastern 
States  grew  nothing  the  mother  country  wished  to  buy.* 
There  men  built  ships,  sailed  the  ocean,  caught  fish,  extracted 

011  from  the  blubber  of  whales,  put  up  great  warehouses,  and 
kept  great  shops ;  but  found  the  climate  of  a  country  where 
snow  lay  deep  on  the  ground  for  five  months  out  of  twelve  too 
rigorous  for  profitable  farming.    That  gigantic  system  of  manu 
factures  which  has  since  made  every  stream  and  every  river  of 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  an  endless  succession  of  mills, 
and  covered  the  land  with  factory  towns,  had  not  begun  to 
exist.     Every  housewife  spun  her  own  fiax  and  made  her  own 
linen.     Boston  and  New  York  were,  indeed,  the  great  centres 
of  commerce ;  but  the  packets  that  entered  the  Narrows,  or 
drew  up  at  the  long  dock  heavy  laden,  went  back  to  Liverpool 
freighted  with  skins  which  the  traders  of  the  new  world  had 
purchased  from  the  Indians  for  bushels  of  periwinkle  shells 
or  strings  of  wampum.     Thus,  under  the  favoring  circum 
stances  of  climate  and  soil,  agriculture  flourished,  and  wealth 
and  population  rapidly  increased  in  all  the  States  south  of 
Virginia,  but  especially  in  the  Old  Dominion.     Nor  is  it  to 
be  forgotten  that  probably  one  seventh  of  the  population  was 
in  slavery. 

Diverse  as  the  inhabitants  of  the  States  thus  were  in  occu 
pations,  they  were  not  less  diverse  in  opinions,  in  customs,  and 
habits.  Though  lately  united  in  a  common  league  against  a 
common  foe,  though  now  living,  nominally,  under  a  common 
government,  many  causes  conspired  to  keep  them  anything 
but  a  united  people.  Differences  of  race,  differences  of  na 
tionality,  of  religious  opinions,  of  manners,  of  tastes,  even  of 

*  New  England  pine-trees  were  famous,  and  were  guarded  with  great  care. 
Foresters  were  appointed  by  the  Crown  to  range  the  woods,  pick  out  such  lofty 
pines  as  were  suitable  for  masts  for  men-of-war,  and  mark  them  with  a  royal 
brand.  Many  years  after  the  present  century  had  come  in,  loggers  in  the  forests 
of  Maine  continued  to  find,  here  and  there,  magnificent  trees,  which  had  been  set 
apart  for  the  use  of  King  George's  navy,  and  which  still  bore  upon  their  trunks 
the  marks  of  the  royal  axemen.  James  Allen,  a  noted  poet  of  ante-revolutionary 
days,  writing  of  the  supplies  England  drew  from  America,  says : 
"  E'en  the  tall  mast,  that  bears  your  flag  on  high, 

Grew  in  our  soil,  and  ripened  in  our  sky." 

To  cut  any  tree  that  was  to  be  so  used  was  a  trespass.  Bancroft,  Ilist.  of  U.  S., 
vol.  iii,  p.  391. 


1784.  BOSTON    AFTER  THE    REVOLUTION.  H 

speech,  were  still  distinctly  marked.  New  England  had  been 
settled  by  the  Puritans,  and  there  the  levelling  spirit,  the 
stern  theology,  the  rigid  and  straitlaced  morality  were  as  un 
yielding  as  ever.  Virginia  had  been  settled  by  the  cavaliers, 
and  was  still  the  stronghold  of  aristocracy,  of  social  refine 
ment  and  episcopacy.  In  New  York  the  Dutch  element  pre 
vailed  and  the  .language  of  Holland  was  very  generally  spoken. 
Maryland  was  the  home  of  the  English  Catholics ;  Pennsyl 
vania  of  the  Germans  and  the  Quakers.  Along  the  Delaware 
river  were  flourishing  settlements  of  Swedes.  In  the  Caro- 
linas  might  be  found  many  villages  where  the  inhabitants 
were  all  Highlanders,  or  all  Huguenots.* 

In  truth,  the  traveller  who  at  that  day,  prompted  by  curi 
osity  to  see  the  youngest  republic,  had  the  hardihood  to  en 
dure  the  discomforts  and  dangers  of  a  journey  over  the  bad 
roads  and  through  the  almost  desolate  lands  of  the  States, 
saw  nothing  more  noticeable  to  put  down  in  his  journal 
than  the  marked  difference  of  manners,  of  customs,  of  taste 
and  refinement  which  prevailed  in  the  country.  Such  a  trav 
eller  usually  landed  in  Boston  after  a  seven  weeks'  voyage  in  a 
packet,  and  found  himself  in  a  city  which  then  ranked  third 
in  importance,  but  would  now  be  thought  mean  and  poor. 
Indeed,  carried  back  to  'the  close  of  the  revolution  Boston 
would  present  a  strange  contrast  to  its  present  appearance. 
But  for  a  few  time-worn  landmarks  yet  remaining  a  Bostonian 
of  to-day  would  seek  in  vain  to  recognise  the  provincial  town 
of  1784  in  the  great  city  of  1882.  He  would  not  be  able  to 
find  his  own  office,  his  own  house,  the  street  in  which  he  lives. 
Cows  were  pastured  where  the  houses  of  a  dense  population 
now  crowd  each  other  for  room.  Boys  played  ball  in  streets 
now  noisy  with  the  rush  of  traific.  Faneuil  Hall,  the  Old 
South,  the  Old  State-House,  and  a  few  other  relics  of  ancient 
times  still  exist ;  but  so  many  houses  of  that  time  are  gone,  or  to 
go,  that,  before  another  generation  has  passed  away,  Old  Boston 
will  be  known  in  tradition  only.  The  city  in  1784  stood  on 
the  three  hills  which  gave  to  it  the  second  name  of  Trimoun- 

*  The  Highlanders  came  over  in  ship-loads  after  the  suppression  of  the  rebel 
lions  of  1715  and  1745.  Ramsay's  History  of  South  Carolina,  vol.  i,  p.  Jl.  The 
Huguenots,  Ramsay  says,  came  over  after  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantea 


12  THE   STATE   OF   AMERICA   IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

tain  and  contained,  all  told,  fifteen  thousand  souls.  There 
was  then  no  bridge  over  Charles  river,  and,  when  the  tides 
were  up,  the  neck  being  entirely  submerged,  it  often  hap 
pened  that  the  town  was  cut  off  from  all  connection  with  the 
mainland.*  The  importance  of  a  bridge  was  quite  manifest, 
and  the  matter  was  carefully  discussed  in  the  taverns  and 
coffee-houses  by  all  classes,  till  three  opinions  prevailed.  Many 
of  the  better  educated  who  had  travelled  far  for  that  day, 
and  whose  knowledge  of  the  applied  sciences  was,  therefore, 
above  question,  held  that  it  was  quite  impossible  to  build  a 
bridge  because  of  the  great  depth  of  the  water  in  the  channel 
of  Charles  river.  Others  of  a  bolder  turn  of  mind  asserted 
that  the  depth  of  the  water  could  offer  no  insurmountable  ob 
stacle,  but  that  the  ice  of  the  first  winter  would  surely  carry 
away  the  bridge  however  stout.  But  the  merchants  depre 
cated  the  idea,  and  proved  from  statistics  drawn  from  the 
customs  that  such  a  structure  would  be  highly  injurious  to 
navigation.  It  was  not  till  1786  that  the  river  was  spanned 
by  a  bridge,  f  In  the  mean  time  a  rude  ferry-boat  plied  be 
tween  the  North  End  and  Charlestown4 

The  streets  of  the  city  were  laid  out  with  no  regularity, 
and  were  given  names  which,  either  from  their  English  asso 
ciations  or  the  coarseness  of  the  times  they  recalled,  were,  by 
a  more  refined  generation,  gradually  changed.  George  street 
has  thus  become  Hancock  street ;  King  has  been  changed  to 

*  The  neck  seems  to  have  been  quite  a  barrier  to  the  daily  travel  between 
Boston  and  Roxbury.  Thomas,  who  had  often  been  over  it,  says  :  "  There  was 
no  bridge  then,  and  at  very  high  tides  the  neck  by  which  the  peninsula  on  which 
the  town  is  built  is  connected  with  the  main-land,  was  sometimes  overflowed." 
Reminiscences  of  the  Last  Sixty-five  Years,  S.  E.  Thomas,  p.  14.  "Within  the 
recollection  of  persons  now  living,  the  water  has  been  known  to  stand  up  to 
the  knees  of  horses  in  the  season  of  full  tides  at  some  places  on  the  road  on  the 
neck."  Drake,  Landmarks  of  Boston,  p.  419. 

f  The  building  of  the  bridge  was  looked  upon  as  a  great  feat  of  engineering. 
Indeed,  Cox,  the  mechanic  who  built  it,  made  such  a  reputation  by  his  work  that 
he  was  called  over  to  Ireland  to  build  the  bridge  at  Londonderry.  He  was  loudly 
praised  for  using  on  the  Irish  structure  American  timber  and  workmen.  For  a 
description  of  the  Charlestown  bridge,  see  Boston  Gazette,  June  6,  1786.  For 
the  ceremonies  of  the  opening  of  the  bridge,  see  Boston  Gazette,  or  the  New 
York  Gazette,  June  6,  1786.  An  ode  written  for  the  occasion,  June  17,  1786, 
is  printed  in  American  Museum,  February,  1787. 

\  Thomas's  Reminiscences  of  the  Last  Sixty-five  Years,  p.  14. 


1784.  STREETS  AKD   HOUSES  OF  BOSTON.  13 

State  ;  Queen  to  Court ;  Marlborough  to  Washington.  What 
was  once  Black  Horse  lane  is  now  Prince  street ;  Cow  lane 
is  now  High  street ;  Frog  lane  is  now  Orange  street ;  Hog 
alley  is  Aver y  street ;  Longacre  has  become  Tremont  street ; 
Love  lane  has  been  changed  to  Tileston ;  Pond  to  Bedford ; 
Paddy's  alley  to  North  Centre ;  Flounder  lane  is  now  merged 
in  the  south  end  of  Broad  street.* 

The  carriage-way  along  these  narrow  lanes  and  alleys  was 
unpaved.  The  sidewalks  or  footways  were  unflagged.  Each 
was,  in  the  language  of  the  time,  pitched  with  large  pebbles^ 
and  the  footway  was  marked  off  from  the  carriage-way  by  a 
line  of  posts  and  a  gutter,  after  the  manner  of  many  old  Eng 
lish  towns.  The  roads  were  such  as  would  now  excite  the 
indignation  of  a  country  newspaper.  The  pebbles  were  ill- 
laid  and  ill-kept.  Yet  travellers  admitted  the  road  was  as 
good  as  could  then  be  found  in  many  parts  of  Londor»,  and 
the  horseman  who  galloped  over  it  was  fined  to  the  amount 
of  three  shillings  and  fourpence.  As  to  the  houses  which 
lined  the  streets  on  either  side,  they  were,  in  the  older  por 
tion  of  the  city,  mean  and  squalid.  Built  entirely  of  wood, 
with  unpainted  weatherboard  sides  and  shingle  roofs  sur 
mounted  by  ugly  wooden  railings,  within  which,  every  wash 
ing-day,  shirts  and  petticoats  napped  in  the  wind,  they  con 
trasted  strongly  with  the  better  class  of  dwellings  on  the 
west  side  of  town.f  There  the  streets  were  neater.  There 
the  houses  of  brick  with  Corinthian  pilasters  up  the  front, 
and  columns  of  the  same  order  supporting  the  porch,  and 
handsome  entrances  to  which  led  up  a  long  flight  of  sand 
stone  steps,  stood  back  in  little  gardens  dense  with  English 
elms  and  shrubs.  Honeysuckles  twined  round  the  porch  and 
high  damask  roses  grew  under  the  windows. 

The  furniture  in  these  dwellings  was  often  imported  from 
England.  The  side-boards  were  heavy  with  articles  of  porce- 

*  An  interesting  account  of  the  Boston  of  the  revolution  may  be  read  in 
Drake's  Landmarks  of  Boston.  So,  also,  in  the  Memoirs  of  Josiah  Quincy ;  Life 
of  Dr.  John  Warren ;  Henry  Wanscy's  Excursion  in  the  United  States  of  North 
America  in  the  Summer  of  1794  ;  and  in  A  Description  of  Boston  :  With  a  View 
of  the  Town  of  Boston,  finely  engraved.  Columbian  Magazine,  December,  1787. 

f  Henry  Wansey's  Excursion  to  the  United  States  of  North  America  in  the 
Summer  of  1791,  p.  39. 


14  THE   STATE   OF   AMERICA  IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

lain  and  china,  many  of  them  of  the  celebrated  Wedgwood 
ware,  whereon  blue  lovers  walked  by  the  side  of  blue  waters 
and  blue  deer  lay  down  to  rest  in  the  shade  of  blue  trees. 
The  crockery  that  adorned  the  table  gave  evidence  of  the 
good  taste  of  the  lady  of  the  house,  and  not  seldom  was  min 
gled  with  silver  plate  and  cut-glass  articles  such  as  the  epergne 
Josiah  Quincy  saw  broken  at  a  dinner  in  Governor  Hancock's 
banqueting  room.*  In  the  corners  of  the  rooms,  or  on  the 
landing  of  the  stairs,  stood  the  high  clocks  of  English  make, 
many  of  which  yet  remain  to  attest  the  excellence  of  the 
manufacture.  Some  were  surmounted  by  an  allegorical  repre 
sentation  of  Time.  Others  had  a  moving  disk  to  illustrate 
the  phases  of  the  moon  and  show  when  it  was  crescent,  when 
in  the  second  quarter,  and  when  full.  Still  others  at  the 
final  stroke  of  every  hour  chimed  forth  a  tune  which,  when 
the  Sabbath  came  round,  was  such  a  one  as  our  grandfathers 
sang  to  their  hymns  in  meeting.  There  were  high  cande 
labra  to  be  drawn  about  the  room  on  rollers,  and  huge  fire 
places  adorned  with  scripture  tiles  whose  rudeness  excited  the 
disgust  of  Franklin,  and  brass  andirons  that  shone  like  gold. 
On  the  walls  were  pictures  by  the  brush  of  Copley  or  West, 
or  engravings  such  as  Trumbull  copied  in  the  library  at  Cam 
bridge,  f 

The  library  was  a  strange  assortment  of  good  books  and 
books  so  gone  out  of  fashion  that  no  second-hand  dealer  will 
buy  them.  Huge  volumes,  long  since  out  of  print,  and  now 
to  be  found,  covered  with  dust,  on  the  back  shelves  of  pub 
lic  libraries,  were  then  high  in  favor.  Among  the  sober 
and  sedate  readers  of  Boston  the  puritanical  taste  w^as  yet 
strong.  The  delightful  novels  of  Richardson,  of  Fielding,  of 
Smollett,  and  of  Sterne  found  no  place  on  their  shelves. 

*  One  of  the  best  descriptions  of  the  interiors  of  the  Boston  houses  of  that 
day  is  in  the  Life  of  Dr.  John  Warren.  See,  also,  Life  of  Josiah  Quincy. 

f  Colored  engravings  vilely  executed  were  then  the  fashion.  Among  the  most 
popular  were  "  Joseph  Interpreting,"  "  Pharaoh's  Cup  Found,"  and  "  Apollo  and 
the  Muses  on  Mount  Parnassus."  Two  others,  often  to  be  seen  in  the  parlors  of 
the  well-to-do,  were  "  African  Slave  Trade  "  and  "  African  Hospitality."  Each 
represented  a  scene  on  the  African  coast.  In  the  one  a  band  of  negroes  were 
being  torn  from  their  families  and  dragged  to  a  ship.  In  the  other,  a  band  of 
negroes  were  struggling  to  save  shipwrecked  mariners.  See  Life  of  Warren. 


1784.  BOOKS  BEAD  IN  NEW  ENGLAND.  15 

Reading  was  a  more  serious  business.  "  The  Lives  of  the 
Martyrs  ;  or,  The  Dreadful  Effects  of  Popery,"  stood  side  by 
side  with  Vattel's  "  Law  of  Nations  "  and  Watts's  "  Improve 
ment  of  the  Mind."  There  might  have  been  seen  Young's 
"  Night  Thoughts,"  Anson's  "  Voyages,"  Lucas  on  "  Hap 
piness,"  Kollin's  "  Ancient  History,"  "  The  Pilgrim's  Prog* 
ress,"  "  The  Letters  of  Junius,"  "  The  Spectator,"  but  not 
the  works  of  the  hated  author  of  "  Taxation  no  Tyranny." 
If  the  owner  had  a  taste  for  politics,  and  there  were  few  who 
had  not,  no  small  space  on  the  shelves  was  taken  up  with 
lampoons,  with  caricatures,  with  poems  such  as  that  in  which 
Hopkinson  celebrated  the  Battle  of  the  Kegs,  and  pamphlets 
such  as  those  in  which  Otis  defended  so  ably  the  cause  of  the 
colonies,  and  Hamilton  silenced  the  Westchester  Farmer. 

Uninviting  as  such  a  collection  would  now  be  thought, 
their  contents  were  familiar  not  only  to  the  master,  but  also  to 
the  lady  of  the  house  who,  despite  her  many  household  cares, 
found  much  time  for  reading.  The  young  woman  of  that  day 
generally  received  her  early  education  at  home,  or  at  the 
school  taught  by  the  minister  of  the  parish  and  his  wife, 
passed  thence  to  some  school  kept  in  Boston,  and  came  back 
to  practice  the  more  homely  duties  of  a  housewife.  She 
learned  embroidery  and  could  draw  and  paint ;  knew  less  of 
novels  and  more  of  receipt-books  than  her  descendants ;  knew 
little  of  French,  nothing  of  German,  and  never  went  to  a 
play  in  her  life.  Many  a  young  damsel  passed  from  girlhood 
to  womanhood  without  ever  having  looked  within  the  covers 
of  Shakespeare  or  Sheridan,  without  ever  having  attended  a 
dance,  and  could  not  tell  whether  the  ace  of  spades  was 
black  or  white,  or  if  the  king  outranked  the  knave.  Her 
musical  acquirements  were  not  such  as  her  granddaughters 
would  consider  deserving  of  more  than  a  smile.  Her  favor 
ite  instruments  were  the  spinet  and  the  harpsichord,  instru 
ments  which,  with  the  sombre  and  plaintive  melodies  once 
sung  to  their  music,  have  long  ago  gone  out  of  fashion. 

The  less  austere,  however,  indulged  in  a  round  of  festivi 
ties  such  as  excited  the  horror  of  their  more  rigid  neighbors. 
Their  time  was  spent  in  dispensing  hospitality  to  strangers,  in 
paying  and  receiving  calls,  in  attending  quilting  parties  and 


16  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA   IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

spinning-matches,  and,  once  a  fortnight,  in  going  to  the 
public  assemblies  in  Concert  Hall  where  the  minuet  and 
country  dance  still  held  the  floor.  But  the  most  fashionable 
of  entertainments  were  the  dinners  after  the  English  fashion, 
where  the  fun  and  jollity  were  prolonged  till  the  candles  had 
long  been  lighted,  and  where,  after  the  ladies  had  withdrawn, 
discussions  were  held  on  politics,  on  religion,  on  the  topics 
of  the  day,  over  rare  vintages  of  Madeira  whose  excellence 
was  acknowledged  by  all. 

The  mean  appearance  of  the  houses  in  Old  Boston  was, 
to  some  extent,  relieved  by  the  rich  display  of  painted  and 
sculptured  signs  which  adorned  the  front  of  the  taverns  and 
stores.  The  numbering  of  shops  and  houses  had  not  come 
into  fashion,  and  every  business  street  was  an  endless  succes 
sion  of  golden  balls,  of  blue  gloves,  of  crowns  and  sceptres, 
dogs  and  rainbows,  elephants  and  horseshoes.  They  served 
sometimes  as  advertisements  of  the  business,  sometimes  merely 
as  designations  of  the  shops  which  were  indicated  popularly 
and  in  the  newspapers  by  their  signs.  The  custom  still  lin 
gers  among  opticians,  glove-makers,  boot-makers,  furriers,  and 
barbers.  But  we  are  now  accustomed  to  regard  the  sign  as 
bearing  a  direct  relation  to  the  character  of  the  business  it 
advertises.  We  should  never  seek  for  eye-glasses  in  a  shop 
over  whose  entrance  hangs  a  gilt  boot,  nor  inquire  for  gloves 
in  a  shop  before  whose  door  stands  an  Indian  in  war-paint 
and  feathers.  One  hundred  years  ago  no  such  relation  was 
understood  to  exist,  and  it  was  not  thought  remarkable  that 
Philip  Freeman  should  keep  his  famous  book-store  at  the 
"  Blue  Glove,"  on  Union  street.  From  the  notices  given  in 
the  newspapers  of  the  time  we  may  justly  conclude  that  the 
goods  offered  for  sale  in  the  shops,  and  designated  often  as 
"  men's  stuffs  "  or  "  women's  stuffs,"  did  not  differ  greatly  in 
kind  from  those  to  be  had  in  similar  shops  at  present.  Many 
of  them,  however,  passed  by  names  unknown  to  this  genera 
tion.  This  is  especially  true  of  the  articles  sold  at  the  count 
ers  of  the  haberdashers.  There  were  to  be  found  plushes, 
lawns,  and  fine  dyed  jeans ;  galloons  and  silk-ferrets,  crimson 
velvets  from  Genoa,  silks  from  China,  linens  from  Ireland, 
rich  damasks  and  cambrics  from  England,  Bellandine  sewing 


1784.        FRUITS  AND  VEGETABLES  UNKNOWN  IN  1784.        17 

silk  and  Prussian  flowered  silk  bonnets,  then  in  the  height  of 
fashion,  swords,  garterings,  vest  patterns,  and  figured  silk 
cloaks.  On  the  stalls  on  a  market-day  we  would  miss,  again, 
many  of  the  fruits  and  vegetables  now  considered  not  as  luxu 
ries  but  as  essentials.  The  tomato  was  not  only  uncultivated, 
but  almost  unknown.*  Apples  and  pears  were  to  be  had  in 
abundance,  but  none  of  those  exquisite  varieties,  the  result  of 
long  and  assiduous  nursing,  grafting,  and  transplanting,  which 
are  now  to  be  had  of  every  green-grocer.  The  raspberries 
and  strawberries  were  such  as  grew  wild  on  the  hills,  and 
the  best  of  them  could  bear  comparison  neither  in  flavor  nor 
in  size  with  the  poorest  that  are  often  to  be  seen  at  county 
fairs.  Oranges  and  bananas  were  the  luxury  of  the  rich,  and 
were,  with  all  the  tropical  fruits,  rarely  seen ;  for  few  pack 
ets  could  then  make  the  voyage  from  the  West  Indies  under 
several  weeks.  Since  that  day  our  dinner-tables  have  been 
enriched  by  the  cauliflower  and  the  egg-plant.  No  great  com 
panies  existed  as  yet  for  the  distribution  of  ice.  This  arti 
cle,  since  come  to  be  regarded  as  much  a  necessity  of  life  as 
meat  and  bread,  and  which,  in  ten  thousand  ways,  adminis 
ters  to  our  comfort  and  promotes  our  health,  was  almost,  if 
not  quite,  unused.  The  coolest  water  the  tavern  could  afford 
came  from  the  town  pump.  Every  thunder-storm  curdled 
the  milk.  The  butter  was  kept  in  the  dampest  and  coolest 
nook  of  the  cellar,  or  hung  in  pails  down  the  well. 

With  the  exception  of  such  vegetables  and  fruits  as  grew 
among  the  rose-bushes  and  tulip-beds  of  their  gardens,  the 
citizens  of  Boston  depended  for  their  daily  food  on  the  pro 
duce  of  the  farms  without  the  town.  We  should  indeed  be 
much  mistaken  if  we  pictured  to  ourselves  the  farms  such  as 
Warren  and  Webster  were  reared  upon,  as  the  pleasant  places 
we  know  so  well.  The  lands  were  ill-fenced,  the  barns  were 
small  and  mean,  nor  could  there  be  seen  in  the  barn-yard,  or 
under  the  cow-shed,  one  of  those  implements  of  agriculture 
with  which  American  ingenuity  has  revolutionized  a  great 
branch  of  human  labor,  has  cheapened  food,  and  brought 

*  The  seed  of  the  tomato  was  brought  over  by  emigrants  from  France.     For 
many  years  after  the  present  century  came  in  the  plant  was  used  for  ornament. 
The  fruit  was  thought  to  be  poisonous,  and  called  the  love-apple. 
VOL.  i. — 3 


18  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

millions  of  acres  into  a  high  state  of  cultivation.  The  first 
thrashing-machine  was  not  invented  till  1786 ;  the  cast-iron 
wheeled  plough,  the  drill,  the  potato-digger,  the  reaper  and 
binder,  the  hay-raker,  the  corn-cutter,  are  not  fifty  years 
old.  The  Massachusetts  farmer  who  witnessed  the  revolution 
ploughed  his  land  with  the  wooden  bull-plough,  sowed  his 
grain  broadcast,  and,  when  it  was  ripe,  cut  it  with  a  scythe, 
and  thrashed  it  on  his  barn-floor  with  a  flail.  His  house  was 
without  paint ;  his  floors  were  without  carpet.  "When  dark 
ness  came  on  his  light  was  derived  from  a  few  candles  of 
home  manufacture.  The  place  of  furnaces  and  stoves  was 
supplied  by  huge  cavernous  fireplaces  which  took  up  one 
side  of  the  room,  and,  sending  half  the  smoke  into  the  apart 
ment,  sent  half  the  heat  up  the  chimney.  His  food  was  of 
the  simplest  kind,  was  served  in  the  coarsest  of  dishes,  and 
eaten  with  the  coarsest  of  implements.  Beef  and  pork,  salt 
fish,  dried  apples  and  vegetables,  made  up  the  daily  fare  from 
one  year's  end  to  another.  Josiah  Quincy  has  left  us  a  pleas 
ing  picture  of  such  a  home.'*  There  was  then  little,  or  in 
deed  no  communication  with  the  South ;  and  the  bread,  he 
tells  us,  was,  therefore,  of  rye  or  Indian  meal  and  not  always 
well  baked.  The  minister  alone  had  wrhite  bread,  for  brown 
bread  gave  him  the  heart-burn  and  he  could  not  preach  upon 
it.  Of  this  simple  fare  we  may,  perhaps,  with  justice,  recog 
nise  some  trace  in  the  world-famous  brown  bread  and  baked 
beans  which,  on  a  Sunday  morning,  are  now  to  be  found  on 
half  the  breakfast-tables  of  New  England. 

If  the  food  of  such  a  man  was  plain,  so  were  his  clothes. 
Indeed,  his  wardrobe  would,  by  his  descendants,  be  thought 
scanty  in  the  extreme.  For  meeting  on  a  Sabbath  and  state 
occasions  during  the  week  he  had  a  suit  of  broadcloth  or  cor 
duroy  which  lasted  him  a  lifetime,  and  was  at  length  be 
queathed,  little  the  worse  for  wear,  with  his  cattle  and  his 
farm,  to  his  son.  The  suit  in  which  his  neighbors  commonly 
saw  him,  the  suit  in  which  he  followed  the  plough,  tended  the 
cattle,  and  dozed  in  the  chimney  corner  while  Abigail  or 
Comfort  read  to  him  from  Edwards's  sermons,  was  of  home 
spun  or  linsey-woolsey.  The  entire  sum  annually  laid  out,  in 

*  Life  of  Josiah  Quincy. 


1784.  THE   NEW  ENGLAND   FARMER.  19 

•  9 

those  days,  by  a  New  England  farmer  on  clothes  for  himself, 
his  wife,  and  his  eleven  or  thirteen  children,  was  ridiculously 
small ;  nor  is  it  too  much  to  say  that  many  a  well-to-do  father 
of  to-day,  with  a  less  numerous  family,  expends  each  year  on 
coats  and  frocks  and  finery  a  sum  sufficient,  one  hundred 
years  since,  to  have  defrayed  the  public  expenses  of  a  flourish 
ing  village,  school-master,  constable,  and  highways  included.* 
It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  because  the  New 
England  farmer  of  1784  was  not  in  possession  of  a  well- 
stocked  and  highly-cultivated  farm,  that  because  he  ate  plain 
food  and  wore  plain  clothes,  he  was  by  any  means  an  insig 
nificant  personage.  His  education,  though  not  as  profound  as 
is  within  the  reach  of  men  of  his  class  at  present,  was  far 
from  contemptible.  His  reading  was  not  extended  and  was, 
in  general,  confined  to  such  books  as  found  their  way  into 
pedlers'  packs.  The  newspaper  he  rarely  saw  unless  it  came 
wrapped  about  a  bundle ;  but  his  inquisitiveness  amply  sup 
plied  its  place.  There  is,  undoubtedly,  much  exaggeration 
in  the  stories  that  have  come  down  to  us  regarding  this  sin 
gular  characteristic.  Yet  it  is  impossible  to  doubt  in  the 
presence  of  such  a  mass  of  evidence,  that  he  was  the  most 
shrewd,  the  most  talkative,  the  most  inquisitive  of  mortals. 
The  horseman  who  stopped  at  his  door  to  inquire  the  road 
was  astounded  at  the  eagerness  with  which  he  sought  for 
newrs.  The  jaded  traveller  at  an  inn,  or,  as  the  phrase  went, 
a  tavern,  sat  hungry  at  the  board  while  the  landlord  plied 
him  with  question  after  question  and  gave  him  the  latest  bit 
of  town  scandal,  or  the  last  action  of  the  committee  men.f 


*  In  a  paper,  called  Cause  of  and  Cure  for  Hard  Times,  published  in  1787, 
an  honest  old  farmer  is  made  to  say:  "At  this  time  my  farm  gave  me  and  my 
whole  family  a  good  living  on  the  produce  of  it,  and  left  me,  one  year  with  an 
other,  one  hundred  and  fifty  silver  dollars,  for  I  never  spent  more  than  ten  dollars 
a  year,  which  was  for  salt,  nails,  and  the  like.  Nothing  to  wear,  cat,  or  drink, 
was  purchased,  as  my  farm  provided  all."  American  Museum,  January,  1787. 
Connecticut  Courant,  August  18,  1788.  Had  his  case  been  an  uncommon  one,  the 
force  and  value  of  the  paper  would  have  been  lost. 

f  It  is  almost  impossible  to  take  up  a  diary,  written  at  that  time  by  a  for 
eigner,  without  finding  some  story  or  some  comment  on  Yankee  inquisitiveness. 
Auburey,  who  was  a  lieutenant  in  Burgoyne's  army,  narrates  an  amusing  anecdote 
of  the  inquisitiveness  of  New  England  inn-keepers,  told  him  by  an  officer  of  Vir 
ginia  line.  Anburey's  Travels  through  the  Interior  Parts  of  America.  Smyth,  in 


20  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

In  politics  he  was  a  stanch  patriot;  in  religion  he  was  a 
Congregationalist.  Neither  his  views  on  politics,  nor  his  opin 
ions  on  matters  touching  original  sin,  were  the  result  of  long 
and  patient  reflection.  He  was  zealous  in  the  cause  of  the 
States  not  because  he  considered  taxation  without  representa 
tion  as  unjust,  or  the  stamp  act  as  tyrannical,  but  because  the 
men  he  looked  up  to  were  patriots,  and  because  he  believed 
the  King  had  serious  intentions  of  making  the  Church  of  Eng 
land  the  established  church  of  America.  He  was  a  Congrega 
tionalist  because  his  father  and  his  grandfather  had  held  such 
a  belief  before  him.  Yet  he  seemed  not  to  know  that  his 
religious  belief  and  his  religious  practices  were  very  different 
from  those  of  his  ancestors,  and  that  the  changes  then  begun 
were  to  go  silently  on  into  our  own  time.  Compared  with 
his  grandfather  and  his  grandson,  his  opinions  are  as  far  re 
moved  from  those  of  the  one  as  from  those  of  the  other.  To 
his  grandson  they  seem  to  belong  to  a  straitlaced,  bigoted 
and  narrow-minded  man  ;  to  his  grandfather  they  would  have 
seemed  such  as  became  a  man  on  the  high  road  to  episcopacy. 
He  held  it  an  abomination  to  read  a  novel,  to  see  a  play,  to 
go  to  a  dance,  to  make  a  jest,  to  sing  a  comic  song,  to  eat  a 
dinner  cooked  on  a  Sunday,  or  to  give  a  present  on  Christmas- 
day.*  Yet  he  would,  at  times,  so  far  forget  his  austerity  as 

his  Tour  through  the  United  States  of  America,  in  1784,  has  some  remarks  on  this 
characteristic,  vol.  ii,  p.  346.  Riedesel  calls  them  "  inquisitive  and  credulous." 
Ricdesel  Memoirs. 

*  The  strictness  of  the  New  England  Sabbath  was  the  subject  of  considerable 
mirth  and  satire  elsewhere.  In  an  old  poem  it  said  that  God  had  thought  one 
day  in  seven  sufficient  for  rest,  but  in  New  England  men  had  improved  on  this, 
and  set  apart  a  day  and  a  half  : 

"And  let  it  be  enacted  further  still, 

That  all  our  people  strict  observe  our  will ; 

Five  days  and  half  shall  men  and  women,  too, 

Attend  their  bus'ness  and  their  mirth  pursue. 

But  after  that,  no  man  without  a  fine 

Shall  walk  the  streets  or  at  a  tavern  dine. 

One  day  and  half  'tis  requisite  to  rest 

From  toilsome  labor  and  a  tempting  feast. 

Henceforth  let  none,  on  peril  of  their  lives, 

Attempt  a  journey,  or  embrace  their  wives ; 

No  barber,  foreign  or  domestic  bred, 

Shall  e'er  presume  to  dress  a  lady's  head; 


1784.  THE   SOHOOL-MASTEK.  21 

to  play  a  game  of  draughts  with  his  wife,  or  spend  an  hour 
at  fox  and  geese  with  his  children.  His  conscience  did 
not  smite  him  when  he  drank  palm-tea  at  a  quilting,  or  lis 
tened  to  the  achievements  of  his  better  half  at  the  spin 
ning  match.  He  drank  ale  and  cider  at  the  apple-paring  bees, 
and  laughed  as  loudly  as  any  one  when,  at  the  corn-husk 
ing,  the  lucky  finder  of  the  red  ear  kissed  his  favorite  daugh 
ter.  But  the  moment  the  fiddles  were  produced  he  went 
home  to  his  pipe  and  sermons,  or  to  a  long  talk  with  the 
school-master. 

In  few  things  is  the  great  advance  made  in  this  country 
during  the  past  one  hundred  years  more  strikingly  apparent 
than  in  the  change  which  has  taken  place  in  the  social  and 
intellectual  condition  of  the  school-master.  The  education  of 
the  young  has  now  become  a  lucrative  profession  by  itself, 
and  numbers  among  its  followers  many  of  the  choicest  minds 
of  the  age.  The  school-master  is  specially  prepared  for  his 
work,  and  is  in  receipt  of  a  sum  sufficient  to  maintain  him  in 
comfort,  to  enable  him  to  procure  books,  and,  if  he  be  so 
inclined,  to  travel.  Booksellers  and  publishers  make  a  liberal 
discount  in  his  behalf.  The  government  allows  him  to  im 
port  the  text-books  and  apparatus  used  in  his  work  duty  free. 
He  is  everywhere  regarded  as  an  eminently  useful  member  of 
society.  But  the  lot  of  the  school-master  who  taught  in  the 
district  school-house  three  generations  since  fell  in  a  very  dif 
ferent  time  and  among  a  very  different  people.*  School  was 
then  held  in  the  little  red  school-houses  for  two  months  in  the 
winter  by  a  man,  and  for  two  months  in  the  summer  by  a 
woman.  The  boys  went  in  the  winter,  the  girls  in  the  sum- 
No  shop  shall  spare  (half  the  preceding  day) 
A  yard  of  riband  or  an  ounce  of  tea." 
The  Connecticut  Sabbath.  See  American  Museum  for  February,  1787. 

A  few  of  the  laws  of  the  Vermont  Blue  Book,  which  were  copied  from  the 
laws  of  Massachusetts,  are  given  in  Acts  and  Laws  of  Vermont,  1779;  Slade's 
State  Papers,  pp.  313,  315;  Hall's  History  of  Eastern  Vermont,  vol.  ii,  p.  579. 
Whoever  was  guilty  of  any  rude,  profane,  or  unlawful  conduct  on  the  Lord's-day, 
in  words  or  action,  by  clamorous  discourses,  shouting,  hallooing,  screaming,  run 
ning,  riding,  dancing,  jumping,  was  to  be  fined  forty  shillings,  and  whipped  upon 
the  naked  back,  not  to  exceed  ten  stripes. 

*  In  many  parts  of  New  England  it  must  be  owned  the  condition  of  the  school 
master  has  improved  but  little  since  1784. 


22  THE   STATE   OF   AMERICA  IN   1784.  CHAP.  L 

mer.  The  master  was  generally  a  divinity  student  who  had 
graduated  at  one  of  the  academies,  who  had  scarcely  passed 
out  of  his  teens,  and  who  sought  by  the  scanty  profits  derived 
from  a  winter's  teaching  to  defray  the  expenses  of  his  study  at 
Harvard  or  at  Yale.  His  pay  was  small,  yet  he  was  never 
called  upon  to  lay  out  any  portion  of  it  for  his  keep.  If  the  dis 
trict  were  populous  and  wealthy  a  little  sum  was  annually  set 
apart  for  his  board,  and  he  was  placed  with  the  farmer  who 
would,  for  that  amount,  board  and  lodge  him  the  longest  time. 
But  this  was  a  far  too  expensive  method  for  many  of  the  dis 
tricts  and  the  master  was,  therefore,  expected  to  live  with 
the  parents  of  his  pupils,  regulating  the  length  of  his  stay  by 
the  number  of  the  boys  in  the  family  attending  his  school. 
Thus  it  happened  that  in  the  course  of  his  teaching,  he  be 
came  an  inmate  of  all  the  houses  of  the  district,  and  was  not 
seldom  forced  to  walk  five  miles,  in  the  worst  of  weather  over 
the  worst  of  roads,  to  his  school.  Yet,  mendicant  though  he 
was,  it  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  he  wras  not 
always  a  welcome  guest.  He  slept  in  the  best  room,  sat  in 
the  warmest  nook  by  the  fire,  and  had  the  best  food  set  before 
him  at  the  table.  In  the  long  winter  evenings  he  helped  the 
boys  with  their  lessons,  held  yarn  for  the  daughters,  or  es 
corted  them  to  spinning  matches  and  quiltings.  In  return  for 
his  miserable  pittance  and  his  board  the  young  student  taught 
what  would  now  be  considered  as  the  rudiments  of  an  edu 
cation.  His  daily  labors  were  confined  to  teaching  his  schol 
ars  to  read  with  a  moderate  degree  of  fluency,  to  write  legibly, 
to  spell  with  some  regard  for  the  rules  of  orthography,  and  to 
know  as  much  of  arithmetic  as  would  enable  them  to  calcu 
late  the  interest  on  a  debt,  to  keep  the  family  accounts,  and  to 
make  change  in  a  shop. 

Nor  was  making  change  a  simple  matter.  We  who  are 
accustomed  to  but  one  unit  of  value  and  purchase  with  dol 
lars  and  cents  can  form  but  a  faint  conception  of  the  diffi 
culties  which  beset  our  ancestors  in  their  money  payments. 
The  Constitution  had  not  yet  been  framed.  There  was,  there 
fore,  no  supreme  authority,  and  no  national  currency  based 
upon  a  universally  recognized  unit.  In  every  State  there 
were  at  least  two  units  of  value ;  the  State  pound  and  the 


1784.  MONEY   UNITS.  23 

Spanish  milled  dollar,  which  had  been  adopted  by  Congress  in 
the  early  years  of  the  revolution.  But  the  values  of  these  stand 
ards  were  by  no  means  common  ones.  The  pound  in  Georgia 
contained  fifteen  hundred  and  forty-seven  silver  grains  ;  in  Vir 
ginia  it  fell  to  twelve  hundred  and  eighty-nine  grains,  which 
was  also  recognised  as  the  pound  in  Massachusetts,  Rhode 
Island,  Connecticut,  and  New  Hampshire.  In  New  Jersey, 
Delaware,  Pennsylvania,  and  Maryland,  it  fell  to  ten  hundred 
and  thirty-one  and  a  quarter  grains,  while  in  New  York  and 
North  Carolina  it  reached  the  minimum  of  nine  hundred  and 
sixty-six.  The  pound  being  divided  into  shillings,  and  the 
shillings  into  pence,  made  the  value  of  the  penny  far  from 
equal  in  the  different  States.  These  local  or  State  pounds  had 
no  existence  off  the  books  of  the  merchants,  nor  out  of  the 
mouths  of  the  people.  They  were  used  in  keeping  accounts 
and  expressing  debts ;  but  when  the  debts  were  to  be  settled 
the  pounds  were  translated  into  Johannes,  doubloons,  moidores, 
dollars,  or  some  other  coin,  and  in  such  coin  paid.  Chief  of 
the  silver  pieces  was  the  Spanish  milled  dollar,  then  ih  gen 
eral  circulation,  and  divided  into  a  half,  a  quarter,  an  eighth, 
and  a  sixteenth,  each  represented  by  a  silver  coin,  and  each 
containing  more  or  less  shillings  or  pence  according  to  the 
section  of  the  country  into  which  it  was  taken.  Thus,  in 
New  England  and  Virginia,  six  shillings,  or  seventy- two  pence, 
were  accounted  a  dollar.  In  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Dela 
ware,  and  Maryland,  seven  shillings  and  sixpence  made  a  dol 
lar  ;  in  New  York  and  North  Carolina,  eight  shillings,  or 
ninety-six  pence ;  in  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  four  shil 
lings  and  eight  pence.  The  school-boy,  therefore,  was  ex 
pected  to  convert,  with  some  readiness,  the  local  pounds  and 
shillings  of  his  State  into  dollars  and  joes,  and  to  know  the 
rules  for  turning  York  money  into  Pennsylvania  money,  and 
be  able  to  tell  how  many  shillings  and  pence  a  pistole  con 
tained  in  the  various  sections  of  the  country. 

As  to  geography,  such  books  and  maps  as  could  then 
be  procured  were  not  of  a  kind  likely  to  convey  much 
knowledge  to  a  lad  of  an  inquiring  mind.  Monteith,  and 
Olney,  and  Guyot  had  not  yet  appeared.  That  splendid 
series  of  school-books  which  now  stands  unrivalled  had  but 


24:  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN"  1784.  CHAP.  *. 

just  found  a  beginning  in  the  spelling-book  of  Noah  Web 
ster.* 

With  the  district  school  the  education  of  half  the  lads  in 
the  country  ended.  A  few,  however,  more  fortunate,  passed 
thence  to  a  seminary  kept  by  some  minister,  or  to  one  of  the 
famous  academies  which  were  regarded  as  the  feeders  of 
Harvard  and  of  Yale.  But  those  were  still  days  of  Puritan 
austerity,  and  the  boy  who  quitted  his  home  for  school  left  be 
hind  him,  too  often,  peace  and  happiness.  Little  Paul  at  the 
Blimbers,  Smike  at  Dotheboys  Hall,  did  not  have  a  much 
harder  fate.  Indeed,  the  pedagogue  who,  in  our  day,  should 
subject  his  pupils  to  the  rigid  discipline,  to  the  hard  fare,  to 
the  sermons,  the  prayers,  and  the  flogging  which  then  fell  to 
the  lot  of  the  school-boy,  would  be  held  up  by  the  press  to 
universal  execration,  and  might  count  himself  fortunate  if  he 
escaped  without  a  prosecution  by  a  society  for  the  preven 
tion  of  cruelty  to  children.  Masters  knew  no  way  of  impart 
ing  knowledge  but  by  the  rod.  To  sit  eight  hours  a  day  on 
the  hardest  of  benches  poring  over  Cheever's  Accidence ; 
to  puzzle  over  long  words  in  Dilworth's  speller ;  to  commit 
to  memory  pages  of  words  in  Webster's  American  Insti 
tute  ;  to  read  long  chapters  in  the  Bible ;  to  learn  by  heart 
Dr.  Watts's  hymns  for  children ;  to  be  drilled  in  the  Assem 
bly  Catechism ;  .to  go  to  bed  at  sundown,  to  get  up  at  sunrise, 
and  to  live  on  brown  bread  and  pork,  porridge  and  beans, 
made  up,  with  morning  and  evening  prayer,  the  every-day 
life  of  the  lads  at  most  of  the  academies  and  schools  of  New 
England.  When  Sunday,  or,  as  the  boys  would  say,  the  Sab 
bath,  came  round,  they  found  it  anything  but  a  day  of  rest. 
There  were  long  prayers  in  the  morning  by  the  master,  there 
wrere  commentaries  on  some  scripture  text  to  be  got  by  rote 
before  meeting,  to  which,  dressed  in  their  best,  they  marched 
off  with  ink-pot  and  paper  to  take  down  the  heads  of  the 
sermon,  and  give  what  account  of  it  they  could  at  evening 
prayers.  Between  morning  and  afternoon  meeting  they  were 
indulged  with  a  cold  dinner. 

The  system  of  instruction  was  crude  in  the  extreme.    The 


*  Webster  published  his  American  Spelling-Book  or  First  Part  of  a  Gram 
naatical  Institute  of  the  English  Language,  in  1784. 


1784.  NEW  BRANCHES   OF  KNOWLEDGE.  25 

appliances  of  the  modern  teacher  were  wholly  wanting.  The 
maps  and  charts,  the  globes  and  models  that  enable  the  eye  to 
make  clear  to  the  mind  what  might  otherwise  be  confused, 
found  no  place  in  the  school-room.  To  explain  away  the 
difficulties  of  the  task,  to  elucidate  the  obscurities'  of  pedants, 
to  make  smooth  the  rough  path  of  knowledge,  formed  no  part 
of  the  duty  of  the  master.  His  business  was  to  stand,  rod  in 
hand,  while  his  pupils  pondered  hopelessly  over  lessons  which 
ten  words  would  have  sufficed  to  make  clear.  Thus,  Trum- 
bull,  the  artist,  spent  three  weeks  in  the  vain  endeavor  to 
solve  an  example  in  long  division.  Josiah  Quincy  went  over 
his  Accidence  "  twenty  times."  * 

From  the  academy  the  lad  passed  to  Harvard  or  to  Yale. 
Were  it  not  for  the  old  buildings  which  still  remain,  sur 
rounded  by  the  splendid  memorials  of  later  days,  it  would  be 
impossible  to  recognize  in  the  great  university  of  our  time 
any  trace  of  the  humble  college  which  boasted  of  Adams,  and 
whose  students  turned  out  in  full  force  to  welcome  Lafayette. 
The  faculty  then  would  be  outnumbered  by  the  instructors  in 
a  single  department  now.  Subjects  of  which  Dr.  Willard 
knew  nothing  are  at  present  taught  by  the  most  distinguished 
men  of  the  time,  and  illustrated  by  museums  filled  with  col 
lections  far  exceeding  in  value  all  the  property  the  college  then 
possessed.  So  little  was  understood  of  palaeontology  that  the 
bones  of  a  mastodon  dug  up  at  Claverack,  on  the  Hudson, 
seventy-two  years  before,  were  still  believed  to  be  those  of  a 
giant.  So  little  was  known  of  geology  that  the  drift  and 
erratic  bowlders  of  the  Glacial  Age  were  cited  in  the  sermons 
of  the  time  as  evidence  of  the  flood  so  conclusive  as  to  silence 
all  doubters.  Of  political  economy  nothing  was  heard.  The 
same  year  which  witnessed  the  publication  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  had,  indeed,  also  witnessed  the  publication 
of  the  Wealth  of  Nations.  But  it  may  well  be  questioned 
whether,  in  1784,  there  could  be  found  from  Boston  to  Savan 
nah  one  hundred  copies  of  the  book. 

The  four  years  of  residence  at  college  were  spent  in  the 

*  For  an  account  of  school-life,  see  Life  of  Josiah  Quincy,  pp.  24,  25 ;  Per 
sonal  Memoirs  of  J.  T.  Buckingham,  vol.  i,  pp.  17-19;  Life  of  J.  K.  Paulding; 
Memoirs  of  Iloger  B.  Taney. 


26  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

acquisition  of  Latin  and  Greek,  a  smattering  of  mathematics, 
enough  of  logic  to  distinguish  barbara  from  celarent,  enough 
of  rhetoric  to  know  climax  from  metonymy,  and  as  much  of 
metaphysics  as  would  enable  one  to  talk  learnedly  about  a  sub 
ject  he  did  not  understand.  The  students  lodged  in  the  dor 
mitories  and  ate  at  the  commons.  The  food  then  partaken  of 
with  thankfulness  would  now  be  looked  upon  as  prison  fare.  At 
breakfast,  which  was  served  at  sunrise  in  summer  and  at  day 
break  in  winter,  there  were  doled  out  to  each  student  a  small 
can  of  unsettled  coffee,  a  size  of  biscuit,  and  a  size  of  butter 
weighing  generally  about  an  ounce.  Dinner  was  the  staple 
meal,  and  at  this  each  student  was  regaled  with  a  pound  of  meat. 
Two  days  in  the  week,  Monday  and  Thursday,  the  meat  was 
boiled,  and,  in  college  language,  these  were  known  as  boiling 
days.  On  the  five  remaining  days  the  meat  was  roasted,  and 
to  them  the  nickname  of  roasting  days  was  fastened.  With 
the  flesh  went  always  two  potatoes.  When  boiling  days  came 
round,  pudding  and  cabbage,  wild  peas  and  dandelions  were 
added.  The  only  delicacy  to  which  no  stint  was  applied  was 
the  cider,  a  beverage  then  fast  supplanting  the  small  beer  of 
the  colonial  days.  This  was  brought  to  the  mess  in  pewter 
cans  which  were  passed  from  mouth  to  mouth,  and,  when 
emptied,  were  again  replenished.  For  supper  there  was  a 
bowl  of  milk  and  a  size  of  bread.  The  hungry  Oliver  who 
wished  for  more  was  forced  to  order,  or,  as  the  phrase  went, 
"  size  it,"  from  the  kitchen.* 

Eude  as  was  the  school  system  of  New  England,  it  was 
incomparably  better  than  could  be  found  in  any  other  section 
of  the  country.  In  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  a  school- 
house  was  never  seen  outside  of  a  village  or  a  town.  In 
other  places,  children  attending  school  walked  for  miles 
through  regions  infested  with  wolves  and  bears. f  In  the 

*  A  description  of  college  life  at  Harvard  at  this  time  is  given  in  the  Harvard 
Book.  vol.  ii.  See,  also,  Hall's  Coll.  Words  and  Customs,  ed.  1856,  pp.  115-117; 
New  England  Mag.,  iii,  p.  239 ;  Willard's  Memories  of  Youth  and  Manhood,  \o\m 
ii,  pp.  192,  193. 

f  "  I  was  compelled  to  walk  three  miles  through  a  deep  and  tangled  forest, 
infested  with  wolves,  wildcats,  snakes,  and  other  animals."  Autobiography  of 
Chas.  Caldwell,  p.  64.  See,  also,  for  scarcity  of  schools  in  Virginia,  Life  of 
Archibald  Alexander,  pp.  11,  12. 


1784.  LACK   OF  SCHOOLS  IN  THE   SOUTH.  27 

southern  States  education  was  almost  wholly  neglected,  but 
nowhere  to  such  an  extent  as  in  South  Carolina.  In  that 
colony,  prior  to  1730,  no  such  thing  as  a  grammar-school 
existed.  Between  1731  and  1776  there  were  five.  During 
the  revolution  there  were  none.*  Indeed,  if  the  number  of 
newspapers  printed  in  any  community  may  be  taken  as  a 
gauge  of  the  education  of  the  people,  the  condition  of  the 
southern  States  as  compared  with  the  eastern  and  middle  was 
most  deplorable.  In  1775,  there  were,  in  the  entire  country, 
thirty-seven  papers  in  circulation.  Fourteen  of  them  were  in 
New  England,  four  were  in  New  York,  and  nine  in  Pennsyl 
vania.  In  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  there  were  two  each, 
in  Georgia  one,  in  South  Carolina  three.f  The  same  is  true 
to-day.  In  1870,  the  population  of  Georgia  was,  in  round 
numbers,  twelve  hundred  thousand  souls,  and  the  circulation 
of  the  newspapers  less  than  fourteen  and  a  half  millions  of 
copies.  The  population  of  Massachusetts  was,  at  the  same 
time,  fifteen  hundred  thousand,  but  the  newspaper  circulation 
was  far  in  excess  of  one  hundred  and  seven  and  a  half  millions 
of  copies.;}: 

Not  less  important  than  the  school-master,  in  the  opinion 
of  his  townsmen,  was  the  doctor.  With  the  exception  of  the 
minister  and  the  judge,  he  was  the  most  important  person 
age  in  the  district.  His  professional  education  would  now  be 
thought  insufficient  to  admit  him  to  practice ;  for  there  were 
then  but  two  medical  schools  in  the  country,  nor  were  they, 
by  reason  of  the  expense  and  clangers  of  travelling,  by  any 
means  well  attended.  In  general,  the  medical  education  of  a 
doctor  was  such  as  he  could  pick  up  while  serving  an  appren 
ticeship  to  some  noted  practitioner  in  Boston  or  New  York, 
during  which  he  combined  the  duties  of  a  student  with  many 
of  the  menial  offices  of  a  servant.  He  ground  the  powders, 
mixed  the  pills,  rode  with  the  doctor  on  his  rounds,  held  the 
basin  when  the  patient  was  bled,  helped  to  adjust  plasters,  to 
sew  wounds,  and  ran  with  vials  of  medicine  from  one  end  of 
the  town  to  the  other.  In  the  moments  snatched  from  duties 

*  Ramsay's  History  of  South  Carolina. 

f  Hudson's  History  of  Journalism  in  the  U.  S. 

t  Ninth  United  States  Census. 


28  THE  STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

such  as  these  lie  swept  out  the  office,  cleaned  the  bottles  and 
jars,  wired  skeletons,  tended  the  night-bell,  and,  when  a  feast 
was  given,  stood  in  the  hall  to  announce  the  guests.* 

It  was  a  white  day  with  such  a.  young  man  when  he  en 
joyed  the  rare  good  fortune  of  dissecting  a  half-putrid  arm> 
or  examining  a  human  heart  and  lungs.  So  great,  indeed,  was 
the  difficulty  of  procuring  anatomical  subjects,f  that  even  at 
the  medical  school  which  had  just  been  started  at  Harvard 
College,  a  single  body  was  made  to  do  duty  for  a  whole  year's 
course  of  lectures. :£  It  was  only  by  filching  from  grave-yards 
or  begging  the  dead  bodies  of  criminals  from  the  Governor 
that  subjects  could  be  obtained.* 

Under  such  circumstances,  the  doctor's  knowledge  was  de 
rived  from  personal  experience  rather  than  from  books,  and 
the  amount  so  obtained  bore  a  direct  relation  to  the  sharpness 
of  his  powers  of  observation  and  the  strength  of  his  memory. 
If  he  were  gifted  with  a  keen  observation,  a  logical  mind,  and 
a  retentive  memory,  such  a  system  of  education  was  of  the  ut 
most  value.  For  in  medicine,  as  in  mechanics,  as  in  engineer 
ing,  as  in  every  science,  in  short,  where  experience  and  prac 
tical  skill  are  of  the  highest  importance,  a  practical  education 
is  most  essential.  The  surgeon  who  has  studied  anatomy 
from  a  book  without  ever  having  dissected  a  human  body,  the 
physician  who  learns  the  names  and  symptoms  of  diseases  from 
a  work  on  pathology,  and  the  remedies  from  the  materia 
medica,  without  ever  having  seen  the  maladies  in  active 
operation  and  the  remedies  actually  applied,  is  in  a  fair  way 


*  Life  of  Dr.  John  Warren,  p.  314. 

f  On  the  difficulty  of  procuring  subjects  for  dissection,  see  Life  of  Dr.  John 
Warren,  pp.  228-231.  Sometimes  students  were  permitted  to  view  the  bodies 
of  men  and  women  who  had  died  of  an  extraordinary  disease.  Life  of  Dr. 
John  Warren,  p.  226. 

}  Harvard  Book,  vol.  i,  pp.  240,  241.     The  school  was  started  in  1783. 

*  A  very  innocent  exposure  of  a  limb   from  a  window  of  a  hospital  in  New 
York  led,  one  Sunday  in  April,  1788,  to  a  most  serious  riot,  in  which  John  Jay, 
Baron  Steuben,  and  a  number  of  prominent  citizens,  were  hurt.     The  affray  has 
come  down  to  us  under  the  name  of  The  Doctors'  Mob.     The  common  practice 
was  to  rob  the  graves  of  negroes  and  strangers,  but  on  this  occasion  the  bodies 
of  "  respectable  persons  had  been  removed."     See  New  York  Packet,  April  25, 
1783;  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  April  23,  1788;  Life  of  John  Jay;  Life  of  Barou 
Steuben. 


1784.  THE   COUNTRY   DOCTOR.  29 

to  kill  far  more  patients  than  he  will  ever  cure.  But  the 
value  of  knowledge  obtainable  from  books  alone  is  on  that 
account  not  the  less  useful,  and  by  no  means  to  be  de 
spised.  The  student  who  has  read  much  in  his  profession  is 
in  possession  of  the  results  of  many  centuries  'of  experience 
derived  from  the  labors  of  many  thousands  of  men.  He  is 
saved  from  innumerable  blunders.  He  is  enabled  to  begin 
his  career  with  a  knowledge  of  things  which,  if  left  to  his 
own  experience  to  lind  out,  would  cost  him  years  of  patient 
waiting  and  careful  observation.  The  advantages  of  such  a 
system  of  study  were,  however,  but  sparingly  enjoyed  by  the 
medical  students  of  the  last  century  when  but  few  physicians 
boasted  a  medical  library  of  fifty  volumes.* 

His  apprenticeship  ended,  the  half -educated  lad  returned  to 
his  native  town  to  assume  the  practice  and  to  follow  in  the 
footsteps  of  his  father.  There  as  years  went  by  he  grew  in 
popularity  and  wealth.  His  genial  face,  his  engaging  manners, 
his  hearty  laugh,  the  twinkle  with  which  he  inquired  of  the 
blacksmith  when  the  next  boy  was  expected,  the  sincerity  with 
which  he  asked  after  the  health  of  the  carpenter's  daughter,  the 
interest  he  took  in  the  family  of  the  poorest  laborer,  the  good 
nature  with  which  he  stopped  to  chat  with  the  farm-hands  about 
the  prospect  of  the  corn-crop  and  the  turnip-crop,  made  him 
the  favorite  of  the  county  for  miles  around.  When  he  rode 
out  he  knew  the  names  and  personal  history  of  the  occupants 
of  every  house  he  passed.  The  farmers'  lads  pulled  oS.  their 
hats,  and  the  girls  dropped  courtesies  to  him.  Sunshine  and 
rain,  daylight  and  darkness,  were  alike  to  him.  He  Avould 
ride  ten  miles  on  the  darkest  night,  over  the  worst  of  roads, 
in  a  pelting  storm,  to  administer  a  dose  of  calomel  to  an  old 
woman,  or  to  attend  a  child  in  a  fit.  He  was  present  at  every 
birth ;  lie  attended  every  burial ;  he  sat  with  the  minister  at 
every  death-bed,  and  put  his  name  with  the  lawyer  to  every 
will. 

But  a  few  of  the  simplest  drugs  were  then  to  be  found 

*  Dr.  Hubbard,  first  president  of  the  New  Haven  County  Medical  Society,  or- 
ganized  in  1784,  was,  perhaps,  the  most  wealthy  practitioner  in  the  county.  Yet, 
when  he  died,  his  books  were  valued  at  $82.  See  Papers  of  the  New  Haven 
Colony  Historical  Society,  vol.  ii,  pp.  200-262. 


30  THE   STATE   OF   AMERICA  IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

stowed  away  on  the  shelves  of  the  village  store,  among  heaps 
of  shoes,  Rohan  hats,  balls  of  twine,  packages  of  seed,  and 
flitches  of  bacon.  The  physician  was,  therefore,  compelled  to 
combine  the  duties  both  of  the  doctor  and  the  apothecary. 
He  pounded  his  own  drugs,  made  his  own  tinctures,  prepared 
his  own  infusions,  and  put  up  his  own  prescriptions.  His 
saddle-bag  was  the  only  drug-store  within  forty  miles,  and 
there,  beside  his  horn  balances  and  his  china  mortar,  were 
medicines  now  gone  quite  out  of  fashion,  or  at  most  but  rarely 
used.  Homoeopathy,  with  its  tasteless  mixtures  and  diminu 
tive  doses,  was  unknown,  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that 
more  medicine  was  then  taken  every  year  by  the  well  than  is 
now  taken  in  the  same  space  of  time  by  the  sick.  Eacli 
spring  the  blood  must  be  purified,  the  bowels  must  be  purged, 
the  kidneys  must  be  excited,  the  bile  must  be  moved,  and 
large  doses  of  senna  and  manna,  and  loathsome  concoctions  of 
rhubarb  and  molasses,  were  taken  daily.  In  a  thousand  ways 
the  practice  of  medicine  has  changed  since  that  day,  and 
changed  for  the  better.  Remedies  now  in  the  medicine-box 
of  every  farmer  were  then  utterly  unknown.  Water  was  de 
nied  the  patient  tormented  with  fever,  and  in  its  stead  he  was 
given  small  quantities  of  clam-juice.  Mercurial  compounds 
were  taken  till  the  lips  turned  blue  and  the  gums  fell  away 
from  the  teeth.  The  damsel  who  fainted  was  bled  pro 
fusely.  Cupping  and  leeching  were  freely  prescribed.  The 
alkaloid  quinia  was  unknown  till  1820.  The  only  cure 
for  malarial  diseases  was  powdered  cinchona  bark ;  but  the 
amount  required  to  restore  the  patient  was  so  great,  and  the 
supply  so  small,  that  the  remedy  was  all  but  useless.  Vacci 
nation  was  not  made  known  by  Jenner  till  1798.  Inoculation 
was  still  held  by  many  to  be  attended  by  divine  punishment. 
Small-pox  was  almost  as  prevalent  as  pneumonia  now  is.  The 
discovery  of  anaesthesia  by  the  inhalation  of  ether  or  chloro 
form  was  not  given  to  the  world  by  Morton  till  1846.  Not 
one  of  the  many  remedies  which  assuage  pain,  which  destroy 
disease,  which  hold  in  check  the  most  loathsome  maladies  and 
the  most  violent  epidemics,  was  in  use.  Every  few  years  dur 
ing  the  dog-days  the  yellow  fever  raged  with  more  violence 
in  the  northern  cities  than  it  has  ever  done  in  this  generation 


1784.  THE   NEW  ENGLAND   MINISTER.  31 

in  the  cities  of  the  far  South.  "Whole  streets  were  depopulated. 
Every  night  the  dead-cart  shot  its  scores  of  corpses  into  the 
pits  of  the  Potters'  Field.  Better  surgery  is  now  generously 
given  to  every  laborer  injured  by  the  fall  of  a  scaffold  than 
could  then  have  been  purchased  at  any  price. 

High  as  the  doctors  stood  in  the  good  graces  of  their  fel 
low-men,  the  ministers  formed  a  yet  more  respected  class  of 
New  England  society.  In  no  other  section  of  the  country 
had  religion  so  firm  a  hold  on  the  affections  of  the  people. 
Nowhere  else  were  men  so  truly  devout,  and  the  minister 
held  in  such  high  esteem.  It  had,  indeed,  from  the  days  of 
the  founders  of  the  colony  been  the  fashion  among  New  Eng- 
landers  to  look  to  the  pastor  with  a  profound  reverence,  not 
unmingled  with  awe.  He  was  not  to  them  as  other  men 
were.  He  was  the  just  man  made  perfect ;  the  oracle  of 
divine  will ;  the  sure  guide  to  truth.  The  heedless  one  who 
absented  himself  from  the  preaching  on  a  Sabbath  was  hunted 
up  by  the  tithing-man,  was  admonished  severely,  and,  if  he 
still  persisted  in  his  evil  ways,  was  fined,  exposed  in  the 
stocks,  or  imprisoned  in  the  cage.  To  sit  patiently  on  the 
rough  board  seats  while  the  preacher  turned  the  hour-glass 
for  the  third  time,  and,  with  his  voice  husky  from  shouting, 
and  the  sweat  pouring  in  streams  down  his  face,  went  on  for 
an  hour  more,  was  a  delectable  privilege.  In  such  a  com 
munity  the  authority  of  the  reverend  man  was  almost  su 
preme.  To  speak  disrespectfully  concerning  him,  to  jeer  at 
his  sermons,  or  to  laugh  at  his  odd  ways,  was  sure  to  bring 
down  on  the  offender  a  heavy  fine.  His  advice  was  often 
sought  on  matters  of  state,  nor  did  he  hesitate  to  give,  un 
asked,  his  opinion  on  what  he  considered  the  arbitrary  acts  of 
the  high  functionaries  of  the  province.  In  the  years  imme 
diately  preceding  the  war  the  power  of  the  minister  in  mat 
ters  of  government  and  politics,  had  been  greatly  impaired 
by  the  rise  of  that  class  of  laymen  in  the  foremost  rank  of 
which  stood  Otis  and  Hancock  and  Samuel  Adams.  Yet 
his-  spiritual  influence  was  as  great  as  ever.  He  was  still  a 
member  of  the  most  learned  and  respected  class  in  a  com 
munity  by  no  means  ignorant.  He  was  a  divine,  and  came 
of  a  family  of  divines.  Not  a  few  of  the  preachers  who 


32  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

witnessed  the  revolution  could  trace  descent  through  an  un 
broken  line  of  ministers,  stretching  back  from  son  to  father 
for  three  generations,  to  some  canting,  psalin-singing  Puritan 
who  bore  arms  with  distinction  on  the  great  day  at  Naseby, 
or  had  prayed  at  the  head  of  Oliver's  troops,  and  had,  at  the 
restoration,  when  the  old  soldiers  of  the  Protector  were  turn 
ing  their  swords  into  reaping-hooks  and  their  pikes  into  prim 
ing-knives,  come  over  to  New  England  to  seek  that  liberty  of 
worship  not  to  be  found  at  home.  Such  a  man  had  usually 
received  a  learned  education  at  Harvard  or  at  Yale,  and 
would,  in  these  days,  be  thought  a  scholar  of  high  attain 
ments.  Of  the  men  who  Sunday  after  Sunday  preached  to 
the  farmers  and  blacksmiths  of  the  petty  villages,  one  had 
explored  the  treasures  of  Hebrew  literature,  another  was  an 
authority  on  matters  of  Greek  grammar,  while  a  third  added 
to  his  classical  acquirements  a  knowledge  of  metaphysics 
and  philosophy.  His  narrow-mindedness  and  sectarianism, 
his  proneness  to  see  in  the  commonest  events  of  daily  life 
manifestations  of  Divine  wrath,  his  absurd  pedantry,  his 
fondness  for  scraps  of  Latin,  may  well  seem  laughable.  Yet, 
bigoted  as  he  was,  the  views  he  held  and  the  doctrines  he 
preached  would  by  his  great-grandfather  have  been  despised 
as  latitudinarian.  Compared  with  Cotton  or  Hooker,  a 
New  England  minister  of  1784  had  indeed  made  vast  strides 
toward  toleration.  He  was  a  very  different  man  from  the 
fanatics  who  burned  Catholics  at  the  stake,  who  drove  out  the 
Quakers,  who  sent  Roger  Williams  to  find  an  asylum  among 
the  Indians  of  Rhode  Island,  and  sat  in  judgment  on  the 
witches  of  Salem  and  Andover.  In  the  general  advance  of 
society  from  ignorance  toward  knowledge,  the  whole  line  was 
going  forward.  The  tail  was  constantly  coming  up  to  where 
the  head  had  been.  Errors  beaten  down  by  the  front  rank 
were  in  turn  trampled  on  by  those  that  followed,  and  truths, 
once  dimly  discernible  only  to  the  far-sighted  men  who 
marched  foremost  in  the  van,  were  becoming  plainly  visible 
to  the  most  short-sighted  bigots  who  dragged  along  far  in  the 
rear.  Yet  the  distance  between  the  head  and  the  tail  was  as 
great  as  ever,  and  the  New  England  preacher  seems  liberal 
only  by  contrast  with  men  of  an  earlier  time.  Long  after 


1784.  THE  NEW  ENGLAND   MINISTER.  33 

Jefferson  had  secured  complete  religious  toleration  among  the 
Episcopalians  of  Virginia,  the  Massachusetts  divines  were  still 
denouncing  that  sect,  were  still  cautioning  their  flocks  never  to 
suffer  the  wicked  heresy  to  take  root  in  the  commonwealth,* 
and  heard,  with  uplifted  hands,  that  a  parcel  of  nonjuring 
Bishops  at  Aberdeen  had  ordained  a  Bishop  for  Connecticut.! 

Such  doctrine,  however,  was  confined  to  the  sermons  which 
he  preached  on  Sabbaths,  and  to  the  papers  which  he  con 
tributed  to  the  press.  In  the  election  sermon  which  he 
delivered  on  the  return  of  every  election-day,  he  taught  a 
very  different  lesson,  exerted  his  eloquence  to  set  forth  the 
equality  of  all  men  and  the  beauties  of  a  pure  democracy, 
and  taxed  his  learning  to  defend  his  politics  with  passages 
from  scripture  and  quotations  from  the  writers  of  Greece. 

Hatred  of  Kings  and  Princes  had,  indeed,  always  been  a 
marked  characteristic  of  his  sect,  and  in  the  pre-revolutionary 
days  he  was  among  the  most  eager  in  the  patriot  cause.  It 
cannot  be  denied  that  this  show  of  patriotism  was,  in  most 
cases,  the  result  of  personal  interest  rather  than  of  a  deeply 
rooted  conviction  of  the  necessity  of  resisting  the  oppression 
of  England.  If  there  was  one  sect  of  Christians  which  he 
detested  above  another,  that  sect  was  the  Episcopalian.  He 
firmly  believed  that  the  stupid  King,  who  cared  as  little  for  the 
Church  of  England  as  for  the  Church  of  Scotland,  was  fully 
determined  to  make  Episcopacy  the  established  religion  of  the 
colonies.  He  was  sure  that  His  Majesty  had  even  matured 
a  plan  for  the  establishment  of  the  Church,  and  that,  before 
many  months  had  gone  by,  laws  as  odious  as  the  Conventicle 
Act  and  the  Five-Mile  Act  would  be  in  full  operation ;  that 
hundreds  of  dissenting  divines  would  be  ejected  from  their 
churches,  stripped  of  their  livings,  and  sent  to  starve  among 
the  Indians  on  the  frontier.^:  While,  therefore,  the  rectors 


*  A  warm  discussion  on  the  propriety  of  admitting  bishops  into  Massachusetts 
was  carried  on  in  one  of  the  Boston  papers  early  in  1785.  Boston  Gazette,  Jan 
uary  3,  10,  17,  1785. 

f  When  the  news  came  of  the  ordination,  which  took  place  November  14, 
1784,  the  Gazette  exclaimed  :  "Two  Wonders  of  the  World — a  stamp  act  in  Bos 
ton  and  a  Bishop  in  Connecticut."  Boston  Gazette,  May  30,  1785. 

\  Fear  of  the  Church  of  England  "  contributed  as  much  as  any  other  cause," 
gays  John  Adams,  "  to  arouse  the  attention,  not  only  of  the  inquiring  mind,  but 
VOL.  I. — 4 


34:  THE   STATE  OF  AMERICA  IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

of  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas  were  ranging  themselves  on  the 
Tory  side,  the  ministers  of  the  eastern  colonies  were  all  active 
on  the  side  of  the  Whigs. 

When  at  last  the  independence  the  minister  so  much 
wished  was  achieved,  he  found  himself,  with  all  his  neighbors, 
in  the  depths  of  poverty.  His  stipend,  which  had  once  been 
paid  with  punctuality  to  the  last  pistareen,  was  now  delayed 
till  long  after  the  day  of  payment,  and  often  consisted  of  bar 
rels  of  turnips,  bushels  of  corn,  sacks  of  beans,  and  flitches  of 
bacon.*  Patches  appeared  on  his  homespun  suit,  and,  in 
extreme  need,  he  betook  himself  in  his  moments  of  leisure 
to  teaching  school.  His  home  was  turned  into  a  seminary  for 
a  half  dozen  boys,  whom  he  undertook,  for  a  miserable  pit 
tance,  to  board,  lodge,  and  fit  for  college.  Yet  his  dignity 
and  self-complacency  were  never  for  a  moment  laid  aside. 
He  had  grown  up  among  his  flock.  He  had  succeeded  his 
father  in  the  pastorship  of  the  little  white  meeting-house,  and 
he  never  left  his  charge  till  he  was  carried  out  to  be  laid 
away  in  the  shade  of  the  elm  and  chestnut  trees  in  the  bury- 
ing-ground  beside  the  church.  His  sermon  was  the  one  event 
of  the  week.  There  were  no  concerts,  no  plays,  no  lectures, 
none  of  the  amusements  which,  in  the  great  towns  like  Bos 
ton,  drew  away  the  thoughts  of  men  from  religion.  On  a 
Sabbath  the  whole  village  turned  out  in  force  with  note-book 
and  pencil  to  take  down  the  text  and  so  much  of  the  dis 
cussion  as  they  could,  and,  when  the  services  were  over, 

of  the  common  people,  and  urge  them  to  close  thinking  on  the  constitutional  au 
thority  of  parliament  over  the  colonies."  Works  of  John  Adams,  vol.  x,  p.  185. 
"  The  establishment  of  a  Protestant  episcopate  in  America  is  very  zealously  con 
tended  for,  .  .  .  and  we  desire  you  would  strenuously  oppose  it,"  was  the  instruc 
tion  given  by  the  Massachusetts  Assembly  to  its  agent  in  London  in  1768. 
Thompson,  Church  and  State  in  the  United  States,  pp.  42,  43. 

*  The  salary  of  a  minister  a  century  ago  was,  unless  he  preached  in  a  great 
town,  but  a  pittance ;  was  never  the  same  two  years  in  succession,  and  was  rarely 
paid  in  money.  Few  preachers  stood  higher  than  Joseph  Buckminster.  Yet  "  his 
settlement  was  upon  the  value  of  wheat  and  Indian  corn,  and  varied  extremely  in 
different  years ;  but  never  did  the  amount,  I  think,  exceed  six  or  seven  hundred 
dollars."  Memoir  of  Joseph  Buckminster,  D.  D.,  p.  69.  In  more  favored  places 
the  preacher  was  allowed  "£130  with  glebe  lands  and  parsonage,  and  the  dona 
tion  from  strangers ; "  that  is,  the  money  laid  upon  the  plate,  which  in  those 
early  times  was  placed  in  some  conspicuous  part  of  the  meeting-house.  Memoir 
of  Buckminster,  p.  39. 


1784.  THE   NEWSPAPERS.  35 

drew  up  along  the  aisle  to  let  the  great  man  and  his  family 
pass  out  first. 

'Nor  were  his  discourses  altogether  undeserving  such  marks 
of  distinction.  The  theology  of  New  England  was  strongly 
tinged  with  philosophy,  and  every  Sabbath  there  went  forth 
from  half  the  pulpits  of  the  eastern  States  elaborate  discussions 
of  the  most  obscure  points  of  the  most  obscure  of  all  sciences. 
Not  a  few  of  the  sermons  which  have  come  down  to  our  time 
are  vigorous  and  logical  arguments  in  behalf  of  the  freedom  of 
the  will,  and  the  presence  of  God  in  conscience.  In  truth,  of 
the  writers  who,  up  to  the  peace,  and  for  many  years  after,  put 
forth  treatises,  arguments,  and  expositions  on  metaphysical 
themes,  scarcely  one  can  be  named  who  was  not  a  native 
of  New  England,  and  a  pastor  of  a  New  England  church. 
Each  minister,  therefore,  felt  in  duty  bound  to  discuss  his 
text  in  a  philosophical  way,  and,  however  crude  his  attempt, 
the  reasons  he  advanced,  the  analogies  he  drew,  the  hints  and 
suggestions  he  threw  out,  furnished  each  week  many  new  top 
ics  for  an  evening's  talk.  And  such  topics  were  needed,  for 
of  news  the  dearth  was  great.  Almost  every  means  of  col 
lecting  and  distributing  it  familiar  to  this  generation  was 
unknown  to  our  great-grandfathers.  There  were,  indeed, 
newspapers.  Forty-three  had  come  safely  through  the  long 
revolutionary  struggle  to  publish  the  joyful  tidings  of  peace. 
But,  with  a  few  exceptions,  all  were  printed  in  the  large 
towns,  and  news  which  depended  on  them  for  circulation 
was  in  much  danger  of  never  going  fifty  miles  from  the 
editor's  door. 

An  interchange  of  papers  did  go  on  among  the  printers ; 
and  some  copies  of  the  "  Spy "  and  the  "  Columbian  Centi- 
nel "  found  their  way  to  subscribers  at  New  York.  But  the, 
papers  Avere  not  received  by  the  post-office,  and  it  was  only  by- 
rewarding  the  post-riders  that  a  place  was  made  for  a  dozen 
copies  in  the  portmanteaus  containing  the  letters.  Even 
then,  on  reaching  New  York,  they  were  almost  a  week  old, 
and  had  they  been  carried  on  to  Charleston  would  have 
entered  that  city  twenty  days  after  the  date  of  publication. 
Had  the  time  been  less  it  would  have  mattered  little,  for  the 
news  to  be  derived  from  them  was  usually  of  small  value,  and 


36  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN  1784.  CHAP.  i. 

likely  to  convey  only  the  most  general  information.  Even 
the  Connecticut  "  Courant,"  the  Boston  "  Gazette,"  and  the 
Pennsylvania  "  Packet,"  the  three  best,  rarely  had  much  news, 
and  were  badly  printed  with  old-fashioned  type  on  coarse  paper, 
which,  under  the  influence  of  time  and  dust,  has  grown  brown 
and  brittle.  Few  came  out  oftener  than  thrice  in  a  week,  or 
numbered  more  than  four  small  pages.  The  amount  of  read 
ing  matter  which  the  whole  forty-three  contained  each  week 
would  not  be  sufficient  to  fill  ten  pages  of  ten  daily  issues  of 
the  New  York  "Herald."  Nothing  in  the  nature  of  an  edi 
torial  page  existed.  Its  place  was  given  up  to  long  essays  on 
politics  or  morals  by  some  unknown  writer  who  subscribed 
himself  "  Seneca "  or  "  Tully."  The  printer  and  the  editor 
were  generally  one,  and  it  was  "  to  the  printer "  that  corre 
spondents  addressed  their  notes.  It  was  seldom  that  he  felt 
himself  called  on  to  do  more  than  make  appeals,  sometimes 
serious,  sometimes  humorous,  to  his  delinquent  subscribers, 
begging  them  to  pay  their  bills,  if  not  in  money,  in  quarters 
of  wheat,  in  pounds  of  cheese,  or  the  fiesh  of  hogs.*  The  rest 
of  the  paper  was  filled  up  with  advertisements  for  runaway 
slaves  or  stray  horses,  with  scraps  taken  from  other  papers, 
with  letters  written  from  distant  places  to  friends  of  the  editor, 
a  summary  of  the  news  brought  by  the  last  packet  from  Lisbon 
or  London,  a  proclamation  by  Congress,  a  note  to  the  editor 
posting  some  enemy  as  a  coward  in  the  most  abusive  and 
scurrilous  language,  a  long  notice  setting  forth  that  a  new 
assortment  of  calamancoes  and  durants,  colored  tammies,  shal 
loons,  and  rattinels  were  offered  for  sale  at  the  shop  of  a 
leading  merchant,  and,  now  and  then,  a  proposal  for  the 
reprinting  of  an  old  book.  The  columns  devoted  to  such 
advertisements  were  commonly  adorned  with  rude  wood 
cuts.  A  stage-coach,  or  a  pair  of  top-boots,  a  prancing 
horse,  or  a  ship  under  full  sail,  a  house,  a  plough,  or  a  man 
running  away  with  a  bundle  and  a  stick  in  his  hand,  meet 

*  "  In  order  to  accommodate  subscribers,  any  kind  of  grain  will  be  taken  in 
payment  at  market  rates."  New  Jersey  Gazette,  July  16,  1783.  This  consid 
eration  on  the  part  of  the  editor  was  not  appreciated,  and  in  a  little  while  the 
Gazette  ceased  to  come  out.  "  Those  who  cannot  pay  cash  or  country  produce, 
it  is  expected  will  have  no  objection  to  acknowledge  their  accounts  by  notes." 
New  Jersey  Journal,  January  10,  1787. 


1784.  CONTENTS  OF  THE  NEWSPAPERS.  37 

the  eye  on  almost  every  page.  Occasionally  odes,  ballads,  and 
bits  of  poetry  made  their  appearance  in  the  poet's  corner. 
Now  and  then  a  paper  of  enterprise  and  spirit  undertook  to 
enlighten  its  readers  and  to  fill  its  columns  by  the  publication 
in  instalments  of  works  of  considerable  length  and  high  liter 
ary  merit.  Robertson's  "  History  of  America  "  was  reprinted 
in  the  "Weekly  Advertiser"  of  Boston,*  and  ran  through 
more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  numbers.  A  "  History  of 
the  American  Revolution  "  came  out  in  the  "  Spy,"  "  Cook's 
Voyages  "  were  published  in  the  Pennsylvania  "  Packet,"  f 
while  other  papers  of  lesser  note  found  room  among  essays 
and  lampoons,  epigrams,  anecdotes,  coarse  "bon-mots,"  and 
town  resolutions  to  discourage  extravagance,  for  short  trea 
tises  on  geography  and  morals.  But  everything  which  now 
gives  to  the  daily  paper  its  peculiar  value,  and  passes  under 
the  general  name  of  news,  was  wanting.  The  student  of  his 
tory  who  seeks  in  the  Packets  and  Advertisers  of  that  day 
for  information  on  matters  which  it  concerns  him  to  know, 
will,  in  all  likelihood,  search  long  and  find  but  little.  He 
will  read  much  about  the  sins  of  idleness,  about  the  value  of 
economy,  about  the  wretchedness  of  the  wicked  woman  whose 
feet  take  hold  on  hell.  But  he  will  meet  with  nothing,  or 
next  to  nothing,  on  many  of  the  most  exciting  topics  and 
important  events  of  the  time.  He  will,  for  instance,  look  in 
vain  for  any  extensive  information  on  the  abhorrence  which 
the  people  felt  for  the  Cincinnati,  on  the  proceedings  of  the 
Middletown  convention,  on  the  action  against  the  Mayor's 
Court  for  its  decision  in  the  case  of  Rutgers  against  Wad- 
dington ;  he  will  see  scarce  a  word  about  the  formation  of  the 
State  of  Franklin,  or  the  rupture  of  the  Committee  of  the 
States  whereby  the  country  was  left  without  a  government 
for  many  weeks.  The  reason  is  plain.  What  took  place  in 
Boston  or  New  Haven,  what  was  going  on  among  the  flat- 
boatmen  on  the  Ohio,  or  among  the  settlers  on  the  Holston ; 
what  prospect  there  was  of  a  war  with  the  Shawanese  and 
Twightwees,  what  prospect  there  was  of  the  people  of  Vir- 

*  See  also  Continental  Journal  for  1784,  1785. 

f  Pennsylvania  Packets  for  the  closing  months  of  the  year  1784  and  open 
ing  of  1785. 


38  THE   STATE   OF   AMERICA  IN  1784.  CHAP.  i. 

ginia  granting  the  impost,  were  matters  concerning  which  an 
editor  two  hundred  miles  away  had  no  direct  means  of  know 
ing.  To  tell  the  readers  of  the  New  York  Packet  what  they 
already  knew,  that  they  hated  Tories,  and  were  indignant  at 
the  Commutation  Act,  would,  to  him,  have  seemed  absurd.  To 
keep  them  posted  as  to  what  was  doing  elsewhere  he  found 
a  most  difficult  task.  He  had  not  in  every  city  and  town  a 
well-paid  correspondent,  whose  duty  it  was  to  collect  the 
freshest  bits  of  scandal,  to  interview  the  latest  public  char 
acter,  and  to  send  accounts  of  the  course  of  popular  opinion. 
For  all  this  he  was  indebted  to  a  source  now  rarely,  if  ever, 
used  even  in  a  backwoods  village  or  a  prairie  town.  Any 
gentleman  who  was  so  fortunate  as  to  receive  a  letter  from  a 
distant  part  of  the  country  was  expected  to  display  his  public 
spirit  by  sending  to  the  printer  such  portions  of  it  as  were 
likely  to  be  of  interest  to  the  community.  Scarce  a  week, 
therefore,  went  by  but  the  Gazettes  contained  many  scraps  of 
valuable  information  under  such  headings  as,  "A  Letter  from 
a  Gentleman  at  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio  to  his  Friend  in  New 
England,"  "  A  Letter  from  a  Gentleman  resident  in  Virginia 
to  his  Friend  in  this  City."  Sometimes  these  communications 
would  fill  a  column,  and  were  almost  always  well  worth  a  care 
ful  perusal. 

In  truth,  the  marvellous  mechanical  inventions  that  have 
compressed  the  whole  world  to  the  limits  of  a  single  town, 
and  have  made  the  collection  and  distribution  of  news  so  easy 
and  so  quick,  have  brought  about  a  great  change  in  the  art  of 
writing  letters.  Men  who  were,  a  century  since,  separated  by 
three  hundred  miles,  were,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  much 
farther  away,  and  saw  much  less  of  each  other,  than  men  who 
in  our  time  are  parted  by  three  thousand  miles.  It  was  no 
uncommon  thing  for  one  who  went  on  business  or  on  pleasure 
from  Charleston  to  Boston  or  New  York,  if  he  were  a  prudent 
and  a  cautious  man,  to  consult  the  almanac  before  setting  out, 
to  make  his  will,  to  give  a  dinner  or  a  supper  to  his  friends  at 
the  tavern,  and  there  bid  them  a  formal  good-by.  Many  in 
centives,  therefore,  to  letter-writing  then  existed  w^hich  the 
railroad,  the  steamboat  and  the  telegraph  have  quite  destroyed. 
Men  who  were  of  the  same  family,  who  had  grown  up  in  the 


1784.  LETTER- WRITING.  39 

same  village,  who  had  known  each  other  at  school,  or  had  fought 
side  by  side  under  Washington  or  Gates,  were  constantly  ex 
changing  epistles  or  notes.  The  number  who,  at  present,  have 
the  disposition  and  the  time  for  a  like  correspondence  is  very 
small  indeed ;  nor  do  they  write  of  the  same  class  of  subjects. 
No  merchant  in  New  York  would  now  think  of  acquainting 
his  friends  in  Chicago  with  the  result  of  a  late  election,  with 
the  last  action  of  the  Legislature,  with  the  price  of  commodi 
ties,  with  opinions  held  on  matters  of  state  or  national  impor 
tance,  with  what  took  place  on  'change  or  on  the  street,  with 
anything  in  short,  which  can  be  read  in  the  newspapers 
under  the  head  of  general  news.  Yet  all  this  our  ancestors 
thought  worthy  to  be  communicated  to  distant  friends.  No 
city  in  1784  had  its  public  library,  no  tavern  its  reading-room 
where  papers  from  every  State  in  the  Union  could  be  seen, 
and  where  even  a  busy  man  could,  with  a  little  pains,  make 
himself  as  familiar  with  what  went  on  a  thousand  miles  away 
as  with  what  went  on  at  his  very  door.  For  such  information 
he  was  dependent  on  his  correspondents,  and  on  his  correspon 
dents  alone.  He  therefore  wrote,  and  received  in  return,  let 
ters  in  which,  among  much  that  is  of  no  concern  to  us,  assur 
ances  of  friendship  and  esteem,  thanks  for  small  favors  con 
ferred,  are  mingled  many  items  full  of  interest  to  the  histo 
rian  of  the  times.  It  is  from  this  source  alone  that  a  just  and 
accurate  knowledge  is  to  be  obtained  of  many  great  events 
and  many  stirring  times ;  of  the  troubles  in  New  England,  of 
Shay's  rebellion  in  Massachusetts,  of  the  indignation  felt  at 
the  conduct  of  Rhode  Island,  of  the  fears  and  anxiety  of  the 
people  during  the  long  secret  session  of  the  Federal  Conven 
tion.  It  is  therefore  much  to  be  deplored  that  so  few  have 
been  saved  from  autos-da-fe  more  sweeping  than  that  per 
formed  by  the  curate,  the  barber,  and  the  house-keeper  on 
the  little  library  at  La  Mancha.  Nor  should  it  be  forgotten 
that  such  missives  were  much  prized  by  the  recipient ;  for  the 
difficulties  of  transmitting  letters  were  many,  and  the  rate  of 
postage  high. 

In  the  early  colonial  times  no  such  thing  as  a  post  existed. 
Indeed,  two  hundred  years  have  not  gone  by  since  the  first 
royal  patent  was  issued  to  Thomas  Neals  creating  him  Postmas- 


40  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN  1784.  CHAP.  i. 

ter-General  of  "Virginia  and  other  parts  of  North  America." 
The  population,  however,  was  at  that  time  so  scattered  that 
nothing  ever  came  of  the  royal  patent,  and  the  postmaster 
appears  to  have  found  little  to  do.  Three  years  later  matters 
had  so  much  improved  that  in  the  course  of  a  twelvemonth 
eight  mails  passed  from  the  banks  of  the  Potomac  northward 
as  far  as  Philadelphia.  The  end  of  the  first  decade  of  the 
eighteenth  century  had  come  before  a  line  of  posts  ran  from 
Philadelphia  to  the  Piscataqua.  This  enterprise  met  with  such 
success  that,  a  few  years  later,  the  service  was  extended  to 
Williamsburg,  then  an  important  town  in  Yirginia.  But  the 
post-rider  was  not  to  leave  the  city  till  enough  letters  had 
been  lodged  to  pay  all  expenses  of  the  trip.  At  last,  in  1753, 
the  post-office  passed  to  the  hands  of  Franklin,  and  long 
before  he  was  put  out  of  office,  in  1774,  had  become  a  source 
of  revenue  to  the  Crown.  It  was  his  boast  that  this  branch 
of  the  public  service,  which,  till  he  assumed  its  charge,  had 
never  paid  one  penny  to  the  King,  yielded  in  his  day  more 
than  three  times  the  income  of  the  Irish  post-office.  When 
Franklin  retired,  Goddard,  a  brother  printer  of  Baltimore, 
proposed  a  plan  for  a  "  Constitutional  American  Post-office." 
But  the  war  broke  out,  and  the  duty  of  transmitting  letters 
was  again  given  to  Franklin,  with  authority  to  establish  a  line 
of  posts  from  Falmouth,  in  New  England,  to  Savannah,  in 
Georgia,  with  as  many  cross-posts  as  should,  in  his  judgment, 
be  thought  necessary.  In  the  mean  time  Massachusetts  had, 
at  her  own  charge,  set  up  fourteen  offices  within  her  bound 
aries,  and  New  Hampshire  one.  The  mail  routes  thus  estab 
lished  ran  out  from  Cambridge,  already  renowned  as  the  seat 
of  Harvard  College,  and  went  as  far  north  as  Georgetown, 
in  Maine,  and  as  far  south  as  Falmouth,  then  a  nourishing 
hamlet,  whose  busy  population  were  deeply  concerned  in  the 
whale-fishery.  From  Cambridge  mails  also  went  out  to  Hav- 
erhill,  to  Providence,  to  Woodstock  by  way  of  Worcester, 
and  from  Worcester  by  way  of  Springfield,  to  Great  Barring- 
ton.  At  Falmouth  the  bags  were  taken  in  charge  by  riders 
who  travelled  at  the  expense  of  Congress.  The  average  day's 
journey  of  the  postman  was  from  thirty  to  fifty  miles  in  sum 
mer,  and  considerably  less  in  winter.  Nor  was  it  till  Jeffer- 


1784.  THE  CARRIAGE   OF  LETTERS.  41 

son  had  been  some  years  Secretary  of  State  that  the  possibil 
ity  of  sending  letters  one  hundred  miles  a  day  was  seriously 
considered.*  Not  long  after  the  opening  of  the  war  two 
packets  were  chartered  by  Congress,  one  to  ply  between  the 
ports  of  Georgia,  and  one  between  the  ports  of  North  Caro 
lina  and  such  harbor  as  should  at  any  time  be  most  conven 
ient  to  the  seat  of  government. 

Such  was  the  humble  beginning  of  that  branch  of  the 
public  service,  which,  more  than  any  other,  has  aided  the 
growth  of  trade  and  the  prosperity  of  the  nation.  The  sums 
now  annually  expended  on  the  carriage  of  letters  and  news 
papers  exceed  one  half  the  amount  of  the  domestic  debt  at 
which  our  ancestors  stood  appalled  at  the  close  of  the  re  volu 
tion,  f  The  number  of  letters  carried  from  place  to  place  in  a 
twelvemonth  exceeds  six  hundred  millions  ;  the  distance  trav 
ersed  by  these  letters,  over  one  hundred  millions  of  miles. 
More  mails  are  now  each  day  sent  out  and  received  in  New 
York  than  in  Washington's  time  went  from  the  same  city  to 
all  parts  of  the  country  in  the  course  of  half  a  year.  More  let 
ters  are  delivered  in  that  city  every  f  our-and-twenty  hours  than, 
when  Franklin  held  office,  were  distributed  in  the  thirteen 
States  in  a  whole  year.J  When  the  British  evacuated  New 
York,  letters  were  sent  to  Boston  thrice  in  a  week  during  the 
summer  months,  and  twice  in  a  week  during  the  winter.  Six 
days  were  passed  on  the  road.  But  at  New  Year's  time,  when 
the  snow  lay  deep,  the  post-riders  between  these  great  cities 
rarely  saw  the  church-spires  of  Boston  till  toward  the  close 
of  the  ninth  day.  Many  years  elapsed  before  the  bulk  and 
weight  of  the  mails  attained  such  proportions  as  to  exceed  the 
capacity  of  a  pair  of  saddle-bags.  That  from  New  York  to 

*  Jefferson's  letter  to  Colonel  Pickering,  March  28,  1792.     See  Life  of  Picker-, 
ing,  vol.  iii.     Jefferson's  Works,  vol.  iii,  p.  158.     Ed.  1830. 

f  In  1879,  the  amount  expended  in  mail  service  was  $20,012,872 ;  the  number 
of  post-offices,  40,855  ;  and  the  length  of  mail  routes,  316,711  miles. 

\  The  daily  average  of  mail  matter  distributed  at  New  York  for  1882  was 
2,400,000  pieces.  In  Barber  and  Howe's  Historical  Collections  of  New  Jersey  it 
is  stated  that,  so  late  as  1791,  there  were  but  six  post-offices  in  New  Jersey.  These 
were  at  Newark,  Elizabeth,  Bridgeton  (now  Rahway),  New  Brunswick,  Princeton, 
and  Trenton.  The  gross  receipts  were  for  the  year  ending  October  15,  1 791,  $530. 
Of  this  the  six  postmasters  received  $108.20,  leaving  for  net  revenue  $421.80. 


42  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

Philadelphia  went  out  live  times  in  a  week,  and  was  for  many 
years  carried  by  boys  on  horseback. 

It  was,  however,  in  the  small  country  towns  far  removed 
from  the  great  post-roads  that  the  slowness  and  irregularity 
of  the  mails  were  greatest.  In  the  mountains  of  New  Hamp 
shire,  in  the  hill-country  of  Pennsylvania,  in  the  rice-swamps 
of  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas,  letters  were  longer  in  going  to 
their  destination  than  they  now  are  in  reaching  Pekin.  Let 
ters  sent  out  from  Philadelphia  spent  five  weeks  in  winter 
going  a  distance  now  passed  over  in  a  single  afternoon.*  In 
more  favored  places  they  were  received  and  dispatched  once 
a  week,  and  that  was  an  occasion  of  no  small  importance.  On 
the  day  when  the  post-rider  was  due,  a  day  which  was  known 
not  by  its  name,  as  set  down  in  the  weekly  calendar,  but  as 
"  post  day,"  half  the  village  assembled  to  be  present  at  the 
distribution  of  the  mail,  which,  in  good  weather  and  in  bad 
alike,  took  place  at  the  inn.  The  package  for  the  whole  vil 
lage  was  generally  made  up  of  a  roll  of  newspapers  a  week 
old,  and  a  few  bundles  of  drugs  for  the  doctor.  It  was  a  great 
day  whereon,  in  addition  to  the  usual  post,  a  half  dozen  letters 
were  given  out.  Then,  as  the  townsmen  pressed  around  the 
inn-door  to  make  arrangement  for  borrowing  the  "  newsprint," 
or  to  hear  the  contents  of  it  read  aloud  by  the  minister  or  the 
landlord,  the  postman  was  carried  home  by  one  of  the  throng 
to  share  the  next  repast,  at  which,  as  the  listeners  preserved 
an  admiring  silence,  he  dispensed  the  news  and  the  gossip 
collected  along  the  way.  In  some  regions  remote  from 
the  travelled  highways,  it  often  happened  that  the  post-rider 
was  a  man  stricken  in  years,  who,  as  his  beast  jogged  slowly 
along,  whiled  the  hours  away  by  knitting  woollen  mittens  and 
stockings,  f  At  other  places  the  letters  lay  for  months  in  the 

*  "  The  letter  which  you  did  me  the  honor  to  write  to  me  on  the  20th  of  la^t 
month  only  came  to  my  hands  by  the  post  preceding  the  date  of  this."  Washing 
ton  to  R.  H.  Lee,  December  14,  1784 ;  Washington  to  Sir  J.  Jay,  January  25, 
1785;  to  L.  W.  Otto,  December  5,  1785.  "The  bad  weather,  and  the  great  care 
which  the  post-riders  take  of  themselves,  prevented  your  letters  of  the  3d  and  9lh 
of  last  month  from  getting  to  my  hands  till  the  10th  of  this."  Washington  to 
Knox,  February  20,  1784;  to  Knox,  March  20,  1784;  to  General  Lincoln,  Febru 
ary  6,  1786. 

f  Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  Eliza  S.  M.  Quincy,  p.  29. 


1784.  INSECURITY   OF  THE  MAILS.  43 

office^  there  being  no  money  wherewith  to  pay  their  transpor 
tation. 

For  the  security  of  mails  carried  over  long  distances  there 
was  no  protection  whatever.  It  was  well  known  and  loudly 
complained  of  that  letters  and  packages  were  opened  and 
their  contents  read  and  examined  by  the  riders.  That  most 
salutary  law  which  extends  a  sure  protection  to  letters,  and 
even  to  telegraphic  messages,  had  no  existence.  Nor  was 
it  till  many  years  later,  when  the  bulk  and  number  of  the 
mails  had  greatly  increased,  and  the  carriers  found  no  time 
to  read  the  notes  they  bore,  that  this  flagrant  evil  ceased  to 
exist.  For  a  long  time  after  the  revolution  business  men, 
and  men  holding  high  places  in  the  state,  were  accustomed 
to  correspond  in  cipher.  Such  was  the  practice  of  Madison, 
of  Jefferson,  of  Monroe,  and  of  Aaron  Burr,  against  wiiom  it 
has  often  been  foolishly  cited  as  a  sure  indication  of  a  crafty 
and  a  cunning  disposition.*  As  stage-wagons  and  coaches 
became  more  and  more  common  between  the  large  towns,  let 
ters  were  often  intrusted  to  a  friend,  or  even  to  a  stranger, 
to  be  left  at  the  Red  Dragon,  or  some  other  inn  frequented 
by  the  person  to  whom  they  were  addressed. f 

These  precautions  might  insure  a  safe  but  not  a  speedy 
delivery,  for  a  journey  of  any  length  was  beset  with  innu 
merable  difficulties  and  delays.  Towns  and  cities  between 
which  we  pass  in  an  hour  were  a  day's  journey  apart.  For 
all  purposes  of  trade  and  commerce  two  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  was  a  greater  distance  then  than  twenty-five  hundred 
miles  now.  A  voyage  across  the  ocean  to  London  or  Liver 
pool,  a  trip  across  the  prairies  to  the  Pacific  coast,  is  at  pres 
ent  performed  with  more  ease  and  comfort,  and  with  quite 

*  A  few  instances  will  suffice.  "  My  two  last,  neither  of  which  were  in  cipher, 
were  written,  as  will  be  all  future  ones  in  the  same  situation,  in  expectation  of 
their  being  read  by  the  postmasters."  Madison  to  Jefferson,  October  17,  1784. 
"  Your  favor  without  date  was  brought  by  Thursday's  post.  It  enclosed  a  cipher, 
for  which  I  thank  you,  and  which  I  shall  make  use  of  as  occasion  may  require  it." 
Madison  to  Monroe,  November,  1784.  See,  also,  Madison  to  Jefferson,  September 
7,  1784  ;  Washington  to  Lafayette,  September  1,  1785  ;  Hamilton  to  G.  Morris, 
June  22,  1792. 

f  Frequent  references  to  this  custom  may  be  found  in  the  letters  of  Washing 
ton,  Franklin,  Ames,  Madison,  Burr,  indeed,  in  any  collection  of  letters  written  a 
century  ago. 


44  THE  STATE  OF  AMERICA  IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

as  much  expedition  as,  a  hundred  years  since,  a  journey  from 
Boston  to  New  York  wras  made.  It  was  commonly  by  stages 
that  both  travellers  and  goods  passed  from  city  to  city.  In 
sufferably  slow  as  such  a  mode  of  conveyance  would  seem  to 
an  American  of  this  generation,  it  had,  in  1784,  but  lately 
come  in,  and  was  hailed  as  a  mark  of  wonderful  progress. 
The  first  coach  and  four  in  New  England  began  its  trips  in 
1744.  The  first  stage  between  New  York  and  Philadelphia, 
then  the  two  most  populous  cities  in  the  colonies,  was  not  set 
up  till  1756,  and  made  the  run  in  three  days.*  The  same  year 
that  the  stamp  act  was  passed  a  second  stage  wTas  started. 
This  was  advertised  as  a  luxurious  conveyance,  "  being  a  cov^ 
ered  Jersey  wagon,"  and  was  promised  to  make  the  trip  in 
three  days,  the  charge  being  two  pence  the  mile.f  The  suc 
cess  which  attended  this  venture  moved  others,  and  in  the 
year  following  it  was  announced  that  a  conveyance,  described 
as  the  Flying  Machine,  "  being  a  good  wagon,  with  seats  on 
springs,"  would  perform  the  whole  journey  in  the  surprisingly 
short  time  of  two  days.  This  increase  of  speed  was,  however, 
accompanied  by  an  increase  of  fare,  the  charge  being  twenty 
shillings  for  the  through  trip  and  three  pence  per  mile  for 
way  passengers. 

"When  the  revolution  came  most  of  these  vehicles  ceased 
to  ply  between  the  distant  cities  ;  horseback  travelling  was  re 
sumed,  and  a  journey  of  any  length  became  a  matter  of  grave 
consideration.  On  the  day  of  departure  the  friends  of  the 
traveller  gathered  at  the  inn,  took  a  solemn  leave  of  him, 
drank  his  health  in  bumpers  of  punch,  and  wished  him  God 
speed  on  his  way.  The  Quaker  preacher,  Hicks,  setting  out  in 
1779  for  yearly  meeting,  remarks  :  "  We  took  a  solemn  leave 
of  our  families,  they  feeling  much  anxiety  at  parting  with  us, 
on  account  of  the  many  dangers  we  were  exposed  to,  having 
to  pass,  not  only  through  the  lines  of  the  armies,  but  the  de 
serted  and  almost  uninhabited  country  that  lay  between  them."  J 

*  Watson,  Historical  Tales  of  the  Olden  Times  in  N.  Y.  City  and  State. 

f  Some  account  of  the  stage-coaches  in  New  Jersey  may  be  had  in  Historical 
Collections  of  New  Jersey,  by  Barber  and  Howe,  pp.  43,  44.  Rude  cuts  of  the 
stage-coaches  may  be  seen  in  almost  any  number  of  the  N.  Y.  Packet  for  1784, 
or  after. 

\  Journal  of  the  Life  and  Religious  Labors  of  Elias  Hicks,  p.  18. 


1784.  THE  STAGE-COACHES.  45 

With  the  return  of  peace  the  stages  again  took  the  road ; 
but  many  years  elapsed  before  traffic  over  the  highways  be 
came  at  all  considerable.  While  Washington  was  serving  his 
first  term,  two  stages  and  twelve  horses  sufficed  to  carry  all 
the  travellers  and  goods  passing  between  New  York  and  Bos 
ton,  then  the  two  great  commercial  centres  of  the  country. 
The  conveyances  were  old  and  shackling ;  the  harness  made 
mostly  of  rope  ;  the  beasts  were  ill-fed  and  worn  to  skeletons. 
On  summer  days  the  stages  usually  made  forty  miles  ;  but  in 
winter,  when  the  snow  was  deep  and  the  darkness  came  on 
early  in  the  afternoon,  rarely  more  than  twenty-five.  In  the 
hot  months  the  traveller  wras  oppressed  by  the  heat  and  half 
choked  by  the  dust.  When  cold  weather  came  he  could  scarce 
keep  from  freezing.*  One  pair  of  horses  usually  dragged 
the  stage  some  eighteen  miles,  when  fresh  ones  were  put  on, 
and,  if  no  accident  occurred,  the  traveller  was  put  down  at 
the  inn  about  ten  at  night.  Cramped  and  weary  he  ate  a 
frugal  supper  and  betook  himself  to  bed,  with  a  notice  from 
the  landlord  that  he  would  be  called  at  three  the  next  morn 
ing.  Then,  whether  it  rained  or  snowed,  he  was  forced  to 
rise  and  make  ready,  by  the  light  of  a  horn-lantern  or  a  far 
thing  candle,  for  another  ride  of  eighteen  hours.  After  a 
series  of  mishaps  and  accidents  such  as  would  suffice  for  an 
emigrant  train  crossing  the  plains,  the  stage  rolled  into  'New 
York  at  the  end  of  the  sixth  day.f  The  discomforts  and 

*  See,  on  the  discomforts  of  stage-coaches,  a  letter  from  Fisher  Ames  to 
Dwight,  October  30,  1791. 

f  Many  gentlemen  who  lived  through  this  period,  and  saw  railroads  and  steam 
boats  introduced,  have  left  us  amusing  accounts  of  the  difficulties  of  travel. 
Breck  relates  how  on  one  occasion  he  set  sail  on  the  regular  ferry-boat  at  Eliza- 
bethport  for  New  York.  The  distance  between  the  two  places  is  fifteen  miles  ; 
but,  after  waiting  all  day  for  a  breeze  to  spring  up,  he  was  forced  to  hire  a  fisher 
man  to  put  him  ashore  in  his  canoe.  Recollections  of  Samuel  Breck,  p.  102. 
In  another  place  he  describes  how,  by  getting  up  at  three  or  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning  and  prolonging  the  journey  until  late  at  night,  he  used  to  make  the  trip 
from  New  York  to  Boston  in  six  days.  Id.,  p.  90 ;  see,  also,  pp.  99,  100,  103, 
271-273.  Josiah  Quincy  says  that  during  such  journeys  travellers  were  called  at 
three  in  the  morning,  made  ready  by  the  light  of  a  horn-lantern  and  a  farthing 
candle,  and  went  on  their  way  over  the  worst  of  roads  till  ten  at  night.  Often 
they  were  forced  to  get  down  and  lift  the  coach  out  of  a  quagmire  or  a  rut,  and 
when  New  York  was  reached,  after  a  week's  travelling,  they  used  to  wonder  at 
the  ease  as  well  as  the  speed  with  which  the  journey  was  made.  Life  of  Josiah 


4:6  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

trials  of  such  a  trip,  combined  with  the  accidents  by  no  means 
uncommon,  the  great  distance  from  help  in  the  solitary  places 
through  which  the  road  ran,  and  the  terrors  of  ferry-boats  on 
the  rivers,  made  a  journey  of  any  distance  an  event  to  be  re 
membered  to  the  end  of  one's  days.  Such  was  the  crude  state 
of  the  science  of  engineering  that  no  bridge  of  any  consider 
able  length  had  been  undertaken  in  the  States.  'No  large  river 
had  yet  been  spanned.  While  going  from  Boston  to  Philadel 
phia,  in  1789,  Breck  crossed  the  Connecticut  at  Springfield, 
the  Housatonic  at  Stratford,  the  Hudson  at  New  York,  the 
Hackensack  and  Passaic  between  Paulus  Hook  (now  Jersey 
City)  and  Newark,  the  Raritan  at  New  Brunswick,  the 
Delaware  at  Trenton,  and  the  Neshamung  at  Bristol  on  what 
were  then  known  as  ferry-boats.*  The  crossing  of  any  of 
these  streams  was  attended  by  much  discomfort  and  danger ; 
but  the  wide  stretch  of  water  which  flowed  between  Pa,ulus 
Hook  and  the  city  of  New  York  was  especially  the  dread  of 
travellers.  There,  from  December  till  late  in  March,  great 
blocks  of  ice  filled  the  river  from  either  bank  far  out  to  the 
channel.  On  windy  days  the  waves  were  high,  and  when 
the  tide  ran  counter  to  the  wind,  covered  with  white-caps. 
Horse-boats  had  not  yet  come  in ;  the  hardy  traveller  was, 
therefore,  rowed  across  in  boats  such  as  would  now  be  thought 
scarcely  better  than  scows.  In  one  of  her  most  touching  let 
ters  to  her  husband,  Mrs.  Burr  describes  to  him  the  alarm 
occasioned  by  his  making  the  dangerous  crossing,  f  How  she 
had  anxiously  waited  for  his  return,  hoping  that  the  dangers 

Quincy,  by  Edmund  Quincy,  pp.  47,  48.  On  one  occasion  Quincy  spent  a  month 
in  his  own  coach,  going  from  Boston  to  Washington.  Id.,  p.  72  ;  see,  also,  pp.  37, 
56.  For  some  of  the  difficulties  that  beset  travellers  between  New  York  and 
Philadelphia,  and  New  York  and  Albany,  see  the  Letters  of  Aaron  Burr  to  his 
wife ;  also,  some  curious  Directions  to  Mrs.  Arnold  on  her  way  to  West  Point, 
in  Arnold's  Life  of  Benedict  Arnold,  p.  235. 

*  Breck,  p.  103. 

f  See  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Burr  to  her  husband,  dated  March  22,  1784.  Though 
the  letters  of  Theodosia  Burr  exhibit  an  unnecessary  amount  of  apprehension  for 
the  safety  of  a  worthless  man,  the  letter  is  worth  quoting  as  illustrative  of  the 
terrors  of  the  river.  "Every  breath  of  wind  whistled  terror ;  every  noise  at  the 
door  was  mingled  with  hope  of  thy  return,  and  fear  of  thy  perseverance,  when 
Brown  arrived  with  the  word  embarked,  the  wind  high,  the  water  rough.  ...  A 
tedious  hour  elapsed  when  our  son  was  the  joyful  messenger  of  thy  safe  landing 
at  Paulus  Hook." 


1784.  BROOKLYN  FERRIES.  47 

of  the  passage  would  deter  him ;  how,  when  she  heard  that 
he  was  really  embarked,  she  gave  herself  up  to  an  agony  of 
fear  as  she  thought  of  him  exposed  in  the  little  boat  to  the 
rough  waters  and  the  boisterous  winds,  and  what  thankfulness 
she  felt  when  her  son  brought  word  of  his  safe  arrival  at 
Paulus  Hook.* 

Even  a  trip  from  Brooklyn  to  New  York,  across  a  river 
scarce  half  as  wide  as  that  separating  the  city  from  New  Jer 
sey,  was  attended  with  risks  and  delays  that  would  now  be 
thought  intolerable.  Then,  and  indeed  till  the  day  thirty 
years  later,  when  the  rude  steamboats  of  Fulton  made  their 
appearance  on  the  ferry,  the  only  means  of  transportation  for 
man  and  beast  were  clumsy  row-boats,  flat-bottomed  square- 
ended  scows  with  sprit-sails,  and  two-masted  boats  called  peri- 
aguas.f  In  one  of  these,  if  the  day  were  fine,  if  the  tide 
were  slack,  if  the  watermen  were  sober,  and  if  the  boat  did 
not  put  back  several  times  to  take  in  belated  passengers  who 
were  seen  running  down  the  hill,  the  crossing  might  be  made 
with  some  degree  of  speed  and  comfort,  and  a  landing  effected 
at  the  foot  of  the  steps  at  the  pier  which,  much  enlarged, 
still  forms  part  of  the  Brooklyn  slip  of  the  Fulton  Ferry. 
But  when  the  wind  blew  with  the  tide,  when  a  strong  flood 
or  an  angry  ebb  was  on,  the  boatmen  made  little  headway, 
and  counted  themselves  happy  if,  at  the  end  of  an  hour's  hard 
pulling,  the  passengers  were  put  ashore  opposite  Governor's 
island,  or  on  the  marshes  around  Wallabout  bay. 

In  summer  these  delays,  which  happened  almost  daily, 
were  merely  annoying  and  did  no  more  harm  than  to  bring 

*  Mrs.  Quincy,  on  her  way  to  the  Commencement  of  Princeton  College  in  1790, 
met  with  the  following  adventure  on  the  Elizabethtown  ferry :  "  We  had  a  stormy 
passage  across  the  bay,  and  I  was  excessively  frightened.  Having  arrived  at  the 
ferry-house,  we  were  shown  into  a  room  where  a  venerable  old  man  was  waiting 
to  go  over  to  the  city.  The  moment  I  entered  he  took  off  his  great-coat,  and 
said  to  his  wife :  '  My  dear,  I  do  not  go  to  New  York  to-day ;  the  looks  of  that 
young  lady  are  enough  to  deter  me.'  This  was  the  celebrated  General  Gates." 
Memoirs  of  Eliza  S.  M.  Quincy,  p.  55.  For  the  dangers  of  the  ferry,  see  New 
York  Packet,  June  17,  1788. 

f  Much  information  concerning  the  Brooklyn  ferries  is  given  in  Stiles's  His 
tory  of  the  City  of  Brooklyn,  vol.  iii,  pp.  504-540.  Another  reliable  source  is 
An  Historical  Sketch  of  Fulton  Ferry  and  its  Associate  Ferries,  by  a  Director, 
(H.  E.  Pierrcpont.) 


48  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA   IN   1784.  CHAP.  r. 

down  some  hearty  curses  on  the  boatmen  and  the  tide.  But 
when  winter  came,  and  the  river  began  to  fill  with  huge 
blocks  of  ice,  crossing  the  ferry  wras  hazardous  enough  to 
deter  the  most  daring.  Sometimes  a  row-boat  would  get  in 
an  ice-jam  and  be  held  there  in  the  wind  and  cold  for  many 
hours.  At  others  a  periagua  would  go  to  pieces  in  the  crush, 
and  the  passengers,  forced  to  clamber  on  the  ice,  would  drift 
up  and  down  the  harbor  at  the  mercy  of  the  tide.  It  is  not 
improbable  that  the  solicitude  of  Mrs.  Burr  for  the  safety  of 
her  husband  was  heightened  by  the  recollection  of  such  an 
occurrence  which  took  place  but  a  few  months  before.* 

Nor  were  the  scows,  in  the  best  of  weather,  less  liable  to 
accidents  than  the  row-boats.  It  was  on  these  that  horses, 
wagons,  and  cattle  were  brought  over  from  city  to  city,  for  the 
butchers  of  the  Fly  market  drew  their  supplies  of  beef  and 
mutton  from  the  farms  that  lay  on  the  hills  toward  Flatbush 
and  what  is  now  Williamsburg.  Every  week  small  herds  of 
steers  and  flocks  of  sheep  were  driven  to  the  ferry,  shut  up 
in  pens,  and  brought  over  the  river,  a  few  at  a  time,  on  the 
scows.  The  calmest  days,  the  smoothest  water,  and  a  slack 
tide,  were,  if  possible,  chosen  for  such  trips.  Yet  even  then 
whoever  went  upon  a  cattle-boat  took  his  life  in  his  hands. 

If  a  sudden  gust  of  wind  struck  the  sails,  or  if  one  of  the 
half  dozen  bullocks  became  restless,  the  scow  was  sure  to  up 
set,  f  No  one,  therefore,  who  was  so  fortunate  as  to  own  a 
fine  horse  or  a  handsome  carriage  would  trust  it  on  the  boats 
if  the  wind  and  sea  were  high,  or  much  ice  in  the  river,  but 

*  In  January,  1784,  a  row-boat  coming  from  Brooklyn  was  caught  in  the  ice, 
crushed,  and  sunk  within  a  few  feet  of  the  New  York  shore.  Eight  persons  were 
on  board.  One  was  drowned,  but  the  seven  climbing  upon  the  ice  were  swept 
into  the  East  river,  then  back  into  the  Hudson,  and  were  finally  carried  down  the 
bay  'to  the  Narrows,  where  some  soldiers  overtook  them  with  a  boat.  New 
York  Packet,  January  22,  1784.  Pennsylvania  Packet,  January  22,  1784. 

f  The  newspapers  of  the  times  contain  many  accounts  of  such  disasters.  One 
Saturday,  in  1784,  as  a  ferry-boat  with  five  horses  on  board  was  crossing  the 
river,  one  of  the  horses  became  unmanageable,  and  so  disturbed  the  rest  that 
they  all  shifted  to  one  side  of  the  scow  which  immediately  filled  and  went  down. 
Independent  Journal,  1784.  Like  accidents  continued  to  be  noticed  till  paddle- 
wheel  boats  came  into  use  in  1814.  See  New  York  Journal  and  Post- Rider, 
December  17,  1795;  New  York  Journal,  April  3,  1798;  American  Citizen,  May 
27,  1801. 


1784.  PACKET   SLOOPS.  49 

would  wait  two  or  three  days  for  a  gentle  breeze  and  smooth 
water. 

But  it  was  not  solely  by  coaches  and  ferry-boats  that  our 
ancestors  travelled  from  place  to  place.  Packet  sloops  plied 
between  important  points  along  the  coast,  and  such  of  the 
inland  cities  as  stood  upon  the  banks  of  navigable  rivers. 
The  trip  from  New  York  to  Philadelphia  was  thus  often 
made  by  packet  to  South  Amboy,  thence  by  coach  to  Burling 
ton,  in  New  Jersey,  where  a  packet  was  once  more  taken  to 
the  Quaker  city.  A  similar  line  of  vessels  ran  between 
New  York  and  Providence,  where  coaches  were  in  waiting  to 
convey  travellers  to  Boston.  This  mode  of  conveyance  was 
thought  to  be  far  more  comfortable  than  by  stage-wagon,  but 
it  was,  at  the  same  time,  far  more  uncertain.  Nobody  knew 
precisely  when  the  sloops  would  set  sail,  nor,  when  once 
started,  how  soon  they  would  reach  their  haven.  The  wind 
being  favorable  and  the  waters  of  the  sound  quite  smooth, 
the  run  to  Providence  was  often  made  in  three  days.  But  it 
was  not  seldom  that  nine  days  or  two  weeks  were  spent  in  the 
trip.*  On  the  Hudson  were  many  such  sloops,  bringing 
down  grain,  timber,  and  skins  from  Albany,  to  be  exchanged 
for  broadcloth,  half -thicks,  and  tammies,  at  New  York.  They 
ceased  to  run,  however,  when  the  ice  began  to  form  in  the 
river,  trade  was  suspended,  and  the  few  travellers  who  went 
from  one  city  to  the  other  made  the  journey  on  horseback  or 
in  the  coach.  In  summer,  when  the  winds  were  light,  two 
weeks  were  sometimes  spent  in  sailing  the  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles./  The  difficulties,  indeed,  which  beset  the  English 
traveller  <fohn  Maude  on  his  way  to  Albany,  would  now  be 
rarely  met  with  in  a  canoe  voyage  on  the  rivers  of  the  North 
west,  f  Burr,  on  his  way  to  Albany  to  attend  court,  changed 
from  sloop  to  wagon,  from  wagon  to  canoe,  and  from  canoe 
back  to  wagon  ere  his  journey  was  ended.:];  Travellers  by 
these  packets  often  took  boat  as  the  vessel  floated  slowly  down 
the  river,  rowed  ashore  and  purchased  eggs  and  milk  at 


*  "  I  have  myself,"  says  Bveck,  "  been  that  length  of  time  (nine  days)  going 
from  New  York  to  Boston."     Recollections  of  Samuel  Breck,  p.  90. 

f  Watson's  Historical  Tales  of  Olden  Times  in  New  York  City  and  State. 
\  Letter  of  Burr  to  his  wife,  October  26,  1788. 
VOL.   I.— 5 


50  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN  1784.  CHAP.  i. 

the  farm-houses  near  the  bank,  and  overtook  their  vessel  with 
ease. 

The  present  century  had  long  passed  its  first  decade  be 
fore  any  material  improvement  in  locomotion  became  known. 
Our  ancestors  were  not  wholly  unacquainted  with  the  great 
motive-power  which  has  within  the  life-time  of  a  genera 
tion  revolutionized  every  branch  of  human  industry,  and  en 
abled  great  ships  of  iron  to  advance  in  the  face  of  wind  and 
waves,  and  long  trains  of  cars  to  traverse  the  earth  at  a  speed 
exceeding  the  pace  of  the  fleetest  horse.  Before  the  close  of 
1787,  Fitch  at  Philadelphia,  and  Humsey  at  Shepherdstown, 
Virginia,  had  both  moved  vessels  by  steam.  Before  1790,  a 
steamboat  company  had  been  organized  at  Philadelphia,  and  a 
little  craft  built  by  Fitch  had  steamed  up  and  down  the  Dela 
ware  to  Burlington,  to  Bristol,  to  Bordentown,  and  Trenton. 
Before  1800,  Samuel  Morey  had  gone  up  the  Connecticut 
river  in  a  steamer  of  his  own  construction  and  design,  and 
Elijah  Ormsbee,  a  Rhode  Island  mechanic,  had  astonished  the 
farmers  along  the  banks  of  the  Seekonk  river  with  the  sight 
of  a  boat  driven  by  paddles.*  Early  in  this  century,  Stevens 
placed  upon  the  waters  of  the  Hudson  a  boat  moved  by  a 
Watt  engine.  The  same  year  Oliver  Evans  ran  a  paddle- 
wheel  vessel  on  the  waters  of  the  Delaware  and  the  Schuyl- 
kill.  Fulton,  in  1807,  made  his  trip  to  Albany  in  the  famous 
Clermont,  and  used  it  as  a  passenger-boat  till  the  end  of  the 
year.  But  he  met  with  the  same  opposition  which  in  our 
time  we  have  seen  expended  on  the  telegraph  and  the  sewing- 
machine,  and  which,  some  time  far  in  the  future,  will  be  en 
countered  by  inventions  and  discoveries  of  which  we  have 
not  now  the  smallest  conception.  No  man  in  his  senses,  it 
was  asserted,  would  risk  his  life  in  such  a  fire-boat  as  the 
Clermont  when  the  river  was  full  of  good  packets.  Before 
the  year  1820  came,  the  first  boat  had  steamed  down  the  Mis 
sissippi  to  New  Orleans  ;  the  first  steamboat  had  appeared 
upon  the  lakes,  and  the  Atlantic  had  been  crossed  by  the 
steamship  Savannah.  But  such  amazing  innovations  as  these 
found  little  favor  with  men  accustomed  from  boyhood  to  the 
stage-coach  and  the  sail-boat.  In  1810,  nine  days  were  spent 

*  Westcott's  Life  of  John  Fitch.     Thurston's  Growth  of  the  Steam-Engine. 


1784.  OCEAN  VOYAGES  RARELY  TAKEN.  51 

in  going  from  Boston  to  Philadelphia.  At  the  outbreak  of 
the  second  war  with  England,  a  light  coach  and  three  horses 
went  from  Baltimore  to  Washington  in  a  day  and  a  half. 
The  mail-wagon,  then  thought  to  make  the  journey  with  sur 
prising  speed,  left  Pennsylvania  avenue  at  five  in  the  morning 
and  drew  up  at  the  post-office  in  Baltimore  at  eleven  at  night.* 
Ocean  travel  was  scarcely  known.  Nothing  short  of  the  most 
pressing  business,  or  an  intense  longing  to  see  the  wonders  of 
the  Old  World,  could  induce  a  gentleman  of  ITS^t  to  leave  his 
comfortable  home  and  his  pleasant  fields,  shut  himself  up  in 
a  packet,  and  breathe  the  foul  air  of  the  close  and  dingy  cabin 
for  the  month  or  seven  weeks  spent  in  crossing  the  Atlantic. 
A  passage  in  such  a  space  of  time  would,  moreover,  have  been 
thought  a  short  one,  for  it  was  no  very  uncommon  occurrence 
when  a  vessel  was  nine,  ten,  eleven  weeks,  or  even  three 
months,  on  a  voyage  from  Havre  or  L' Orient  to  New  York.f 
So  formidable  was  this  tedious  sail,  and  the  bad  food  and 
loathsome  water  it  entailed,  that  fewer  men  went  over  each 
summer  to  London  than  now  go  every  month  to  South  Amer 
ica.  In  fact,  an  emigrant  steamer  brings  out  each  passage 
from  Queenstown  more  human  beings  than,  a  hundred  years 
ago,  crossed  the  ocean  in  both  directions  in  the  space  of  a 
twelvemonth.  So  late  as  1795,  a  gentleman  who  had  been 
abroad  was  pointed  out  in  the  streets  even  of  the  laro-e  cities 

•*•  o 

with  the  remark,  "  There  goes  a  man  who  has  been  to 
Europe."  f 

*S.  E.  Thomas's  Reminiscences,  vol.  ii,  p.  126. 

f  The  letters  of  Jefferson,  when  Secretary  of  State,  to  William  Short,  charge  at 
the  French  court,  and  William  Carmichael,  charye  at  that  of  Madrid,  are  full  of 
evidence  on  this  point.  "  I  will  state  to  you  the  dates  of  all  your  letters  re 
ceived  by  me,  .  .  .  and  length  of  their  passage.  .  .  .  You  will  perceive  that  they 
average  eleven  weeks  and  a  half ;  that  the  quickest  are  of  nine  weeks,  and  the 
longest  are  of  near  eighteen  weeks'  coming.  Our  information  through  the  Eng 
lish  papers  is  of  about  five  or  six  weeks.  ..."  Jefferson  to  W.  Short,  July  26, 
1790.  Again  he  writes:  "...  I  have  received  Nos.  45  and  50;  the  former  in 
three  months  and  seven  days,  the  latter  in  two  mouths  and  seventeen  days,  by 
the  English  packet,  which  had  an  uncommonly  long  passage."  Jefferson  to  W. 
Short,  March  15,  1791.  See  also  letters  to  Short,  March  19,  1791,  and  to  Car 
michael,  April  11,  1791. 

$  "  At  that  time  (1795),  and  for  a  number  of  years  after,  a  man,  not  a  seaman, 
who  had  made  a  voyage  to  Europe,  was  pointed  at  in  the  streets  as  a  curiosity, 
with  some  such  a  remark  as  this  :  '  There  goes  a  man  who  has  been  to  London.'  " 


52  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN  1784.  CHAP.  i. 

Much  of  the  delay  in  land  travelling  was  caused  by  the 
wretched  condition  of  the  highways.  On  the  best  lines  of 
communication  the  ruts  were  deep,  the  descents  precipitous. 
Travellers  by  coach  were  often  compelled  to  alight  and  assist 
the  'driver  to  tug  the  vehicle  out  of  the  slough.  Nor  were 
such  accidents  limited  to  the  desolate  tracks  of  country.  Near 
the  great  cities  the  state  of  the  roads  was  so  bad  as  to  render 
all  approach  difficult  and  dangerous.  Out  of  Philadelphia  a 
quagmire  of  black  mud  covered  a  long  stretch  of  road  near 
the  village  of  Rising  Sun.  There  horses  were  often  seen 
floundering  in  mud  up  to  their  bellies.  On  the  York  road 
long  lines  of  wagons  were  every  day  to  be  met  with,  drawn 
up  near  Logan's  hill,  while  the  wagoners  unhitched  their 
teams,  to  assist  each  other  in  pulling  through  the  mire.  At 
some  places  stakes  were  set  up  to  warn  teams  out  of  the 
quicksand  pits ;  at  others,  the  fences  were  pulled  down,  and 
a  new  road  made  through  the  fields.* 

With  such  obstacles  to  communication  between  the  differ 
ent  parts  of  the  country,  it  is  far  from  surprising  that  each 
city  was  broadly  distinguished  from  every  other  by  the  habits 
and  customs  of  its  citizens.  A  Bostonian  who  found  him 
self  in  New  York,  could  spend  an  hour  or  two  no  more 
profitably  than  in  strolling  about  the  streets  and  noting  the 
superiority  of  his  own  native  city  to  the  Dutch  town  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Hudson ;  and,  indeed,  his  opinion  was  not  an 
erroneous  one,  for  the  condition  of  the  city  after  the  war 
was  very  different  from  its  condition  before.  Prior  to  the 
revolution  the  commerce  of  New  York  was  surpassed  by 
that  of  Boston  alone.  The  number  of  the  population  rolled 
up  to  three-and-twenty  thousand.  In  her  streets  were  heard 
the  languages  of  all  the  civilized  nations  of  the  world.  But, 
after  seven  years  of  warfare,  the  city  was  almost  ruined. 
On  the  day  the  last  of  the  British  soldiers  sailed  down  the 
Narrows,  her  commerce  was  gone,  her  treasury  v  as  empty, 
her  citizens  starving  in  the  wilds  of  New  Jersey  The  city, 
as  the  term  was  then  understood,  ended  at  Anthony  street 

S.  E.  Thomas,  Kcminiscences  of  the  Last  Sixty-five  Years,  p.  29.     At  Philadelphia, 
foreigners  were  stared  at.     American  Daily  Advertiser,  August  19,  1791. 
*  Watson's  Annals  of  Philadelphia  and  Pennsylvania  in  the  Olden  Time. 


1784.  LIMITS   OF  NEW  YOKE   CITY.  53 

on  the  north ;  Harrison  street  was  the  last  toward  the  Hud 
son  river,  as  Rutgers  was  toward  the  East  river.  This  re 
gion,  which  now  consists  for  the  most  part  of  immense  ware 
houses  and  counting-houses  and  public  buildings,  crowded  by 
traders  and  their  clerks  during  the  day,  and  left  almost  in 
total  solitude  at  night,  was  then  the  place  not  only  of  business, 
but  of  residence.  Yet,  even  within  these  narrow  limits,  the 
houses  were  scattered  and  surrounded  by  large  gardens,  not  a 
few  of  which  ran  down  to  the  shores  of  the  rivers,  and  were 
thick  with  hedges  and  trees.  Innumerable  creeks  and  kills 
flowed  through  broad  meadows,  or  lost  themselves  in  swamps 
and  pools,  where  are  now  the  sites  of  great  mercantile  houses ; 
dwellings  stand  crowded  together  on  land  then  covered  with 
orchards  and  fields  of  buckwheat ;  farms  spread  out  where  is 
now  the  fashionable  part  of  the  city ;  men  fished  and  snared 
fowl  in  ponds  and  in  marshes  long  since  given  up  to  the 
wants  of  trade.  So  late  as  1787,  the  seine  was  regularly 
drawn  on  the  beach  where  Greenwich  street  now  is ;  ducks 
were  often  shot  in  Beekman's  swamp  ;  wild  pigeons  were 
plentiful  in  Berkley's  woods. 

More  than  a  third  part  of  the  old  town  lay  in  ashes ;  in 
the  very  week  wherein  Howe  entered  the  city  in  triumph, 
a  terrible  fire  destroyed  five  hundred  houses  on  the  west 
side  of  the  city  near  the  present  Washington  market.  Again, 
three  years  later,  a  second  fire  consumed  three  hundred 
houses  on  the  east  side.  But  little  building  had  been  done, 
and,  in  1784,  the  two  sites  were  still  covered  with  heaps 
of  blackened  plaster  and  fragments  of  burned  brick.  Be 
tween  these  sites  lay  the  Common.  Originally,  this  stretch 
of  land  had  been  rectangular,  but  the  post-road  ran  through  it, 
cutting  off  a  large  triangle.  The  present  City  Hall  park  occu 
pies  the  piece  of  common  known  as  the  "  Flat "  or  "  Vlackte."' 
"What  Faneuil  Hall  was  to  Boston,  what  Independence  Hall 
was  to  Philadelphia,  that  was  the  Common  to  New  York. 
There  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  led  by  Seares  and  Scott  and  Lamb, 
met  to  denounce  the  stamp  act;  there  they  fought  for  their 
liberty-pole ;  there  they  ended  the  battle  of  Golden  Hill. 

North  of  the  Common  was  the  fresh-water  pond,  called,  also, 
the  Collect.  In  this  sheet  of  sparkling  water  many  a  belated 


54  THE   STATE  OF  AMERICA  IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

traveller  and  unwary  fisherman  had  found  an  untimely  grave ; 
and  around  it  many  traditions  and  myths  had  gathered.  The 
pond  was  reported,  and  the  story  was  believed  by  the  edu 
cated,  to  have  no  bottom ;  it  was  confidently  affirmed  by  the 
ignorant  to  be  the  abode  of  strange  sea-monsters.  Every  one 
knew  it  to  be  full  of  most  excellent  roach  and  sunfish.  Be 
low  the  Common,  to  the  east,  lay  Beekman's  swamp,  a  patch 
of  low,  flat  land,  overgrown  with  coarse  grass  and  tangled 
briers,  and,  when  the  tides  were  unusually  high,  covered  with 
water.  There,  fifty  years  before,  Jacobus  Roosevelt  laid  out 
his  tanneries,  and  so  began  that  branch  of  industry  of  which 
the  Swamp  is,  to  this  day,  the  centre.  Along  the  Bowery 
lane  lay  a  succession  of  orchards  and  gardens ;  near  Gram- 
ercy  park  was  Crummashie  hill ;  the  Zant  Berg  hill  lay 
above  it,  with  the  Minetta  brook  winding  its  way  through  a 
marshy  valley  to  the  river ;  Broadway  disappeared  in  the 
meadows  above  Anthony  street ;  to  the  west  of  Canal  street 
the  Lispenard  meadows,  a  great  resort  of  sportsmen,  stretched 
away  to  the  North  river. 

Three  roads  then  ran  out  of  town :  the  Kingsbridge  road, 
a  continuation  of  the  Bowery  lane,  joined  with  the  South 
ampton  road,  and  went  out  by  McGowan's  pass  to  Kings- 
bridge,  and  along  the  river  to  Albany ;  the  old  Boston  post- 
road  started  from  the  neighborhood  of  Madison  square,  and, 
winding  its  way  to  Harlem,  crossed  the  river,  and  turned  east 
ward  toward  Boston ;  the  Middle  road  ran  direct  to  Harlem. 

Scattered  here  and  there  along  these  were  the  homes  of 
many  wealthy  citizens.  JSTot  a  few  of  them  had  been  the 
scenes  of  revolutionary  incidents.  Thus,  at  Inclenbergh  was 
the  home  of  Robert  Murray,  father  of  the  famous  gramma 
rian,  and  husband  of  the  fair  Quakeress  who,  when  the  Ameri 
can  army  was  in  full  retreat,  detained  the  British  officers  till 
the  last  man  of  Silliman's  brigade  was  well  on  toward  Har 
lem  ;  higher  up,  on  the  Bloomingdale  road,  was  Apthorpe 
mansion,  where,  on  the  same  day,  Washington  waited  for  his 
scattered  troops  till  the  British  came  in  sight,  and  barely 
escaped  capture  by  a  hasty  flight ;  on  the  shore  of  the  East 
river,  hard  by  Turtle  bay,  was  the  Beekman  mansion,  beneath 
whose  roof  Nathan  Hale,  the  martyr  spy,  was  tried  and  sen- 


1784,  STATE   OF  THE  STREETS.  55 

tenced  to  execution ;  while  high  up,  on  the  banks  that  over 
look  the  waters  of  the  Harlem,  stood  the  home  of  Colonel 
Roger  Morris,  afterward  the  home  of  the  famous  Madame 
Jumel. 

In  the  city  scarce  a  street  was  paved,  and  these  few  were 
so  illy  done  that  Franklin  observed  that  a  New  Yorker  could 
be  told  by  his  walk  as  he  shuffled  over  the  smooth  pavements 
of  Philadelphia.  Street-lamps,  which  came  into  fashion  ten 
years  before,  were  few  in  number,  and  rarely  lighted  on  wet 
nights.*  Nor  was  there  indeed  much  need  of  them,  for  the 
fashion  of  keeping  late  hours  had  not  then  come  in.  The 
city  was  famous  among  all  the  colonial  towns  for  routs  and 
riots,  the  luxury  and  display  of  its  citizens,  and  for  gayety  and 
festivity.  But  the  rout  was  over,  and  the  guests  safe  at  home, 
long  before  the  watchman  was  heard  crying  in  the  streets, 
"  Nine  o'clock  and  all's  well." 

Many  of  the  old  Dutch  customs  were  still  kept  up.  New 
England  could  boast  of  no  such  day  as  New  Year's  day.  Bos 
ton  and  Philadelphia  saw  no  such  scenes  as  on  every  Christ 
mas  and  every  Easter  day  were  enacted  in  New  York.  For, 
.despite  the  boast  that  men  speaking  the  tongue  of  every  civil 
ized  people  were  to  be  found  in  the  city,  the  Dutch  element 
was  still  strong,  and  the  language  and  religion  of  Holland  were 
most  prevalent.  Half  the  signs  on  William  street  were  in 
Dutch.  At  the  Hudson  market,  and  along  the  slips  of  the 
Hudson  river,  a  knowledge  of  Dutch  was  absolutely  indispen 
sable.  Until  twenty  years  before,  no  sermon  in  the  English 
language  had  ever  been  preached  in  either  of  the  three  Dutch 
churches,  and,  even  after  the  revolution,  prayers  were  still 
made,  and  sermons  still  preached,  at  times,  in  the  language 
of  the  Stuyvesaiits  and  Yan  Dams.  But  a  change  in  church 
language  had  been  attended  by  no  change  in  church  ceremo 
nial.  The  dominie  in  his  black  silk  gown  still  preached  in 
in  the  high  pulpit.  The  hour-glass  yet  stood  at  his  right  hand, 
and  the  huge  sounding-board  over  his  head.  The  first  psalm 
was  still  announced  by  movable  numbers  hung  on  three  sides 
of  the  pulpit ;  the  clerk  still  sat  in  the  deacon's  pew,  and  when 

*  The  papers  of  that  and  a  later  day  contain  many  notices  of  gangs  of  ruffians 
who  frequented  the  streets  at  night,  and  waylaid  and  robbed  passers-by. 


56  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN   1784.  CHAP.  *. 

the  congregation  were  in  their  seats,  when  the  preacher  was 
in  the  pulpit,  the  psalm  sung  and  the  prayer  made,  prefaced 
the  sermon  with  a  chapter  from  the  Bible  at  morning  service, 
and  by  chanting  the  Apostles'  Creed  at  evening  service.  To 
him  were  intrusted  the  notices  to  be  read,  which  he  fastened 
to  the  end  of  a  long  pole  and  passed  up  to  the  minister. 
When  the  last  grain  of  sand  had  run  out  of  the  glass,  his  three 
raps  brought  the  sermon  to  a  close.  Then  the  deacons  rose  in 
their  pew,  listened  to  a  short  address  from  the  minister,  and, 
with  velvet  bags  and  bells  hung  to  long  rods,  went  among 
the  congregation  collecting  alms  for  the  poor.* 

Hard  by  the  Dutch  church  stood  a  smaller  and  less  pre 
tentious  chapel,  on  whose  worshippers  Episcopalians  and  Dis 
senters  alike  looked  down  with  horror  not  unmingled  with 
contempt.  The  building  had  been  put  up  some  sixteen  years 
before.  Yet  the  congregation  was  not  numerous,  and  was 
made  up  chiefly  of  shopkeepers  and  negroes,  for  the  Method 
ists  were  still  a  new  sect.  Indeed,  the  society  at  New  York, 
though  it  dated  no  further  back  than  1TOG,  could  have  boasted, 
with  justice,  of  being  the  oldest  Methodist  society,  and  of 
worshipping  in  the  oldest  Methodist  church  in  America,  f 
The  first  of  the  sect  to  come  to  our  shores  was  undoubtedly 
Whitfield,  who  preached  and  exhorted  through  the  southern 
provinces  in  1737.  But  the  man  who  may  well  be  called  the 
father  of  American  Methodism,  the  man  who  watched  and 
tended  it  in  its  early  years,  who  shaped  its  course,  who  found 
it  weak  and  left  it  strong,  was  Francis  Asbury.  He  was  an 
Englishman  of  hard  sense  and  strong  religious  feeling,  and 
sprang  from  the  great  middle  class,  which  has,  in  every  gen 
eration,  furnished  numbers  of  men  whose  names  are  held  in 
grateful  remembrance.  When  he  landed  in  America,  in  1772, 


*  My  description  of  the  city  of  New  York  is  made  up  of  materials  taken  chiefly 
from  M.  L.  Booth's  History  of  the  City  of  New  York ;  Watson's  Historical  Tales 
of  the  Olden  Times  in  New  York  City  and  State ;  Duer's  New  York  as  it  was 
during  the  latter  part  of  the  Last  Century  ;  Valentine's  History  of  the  City  of  New 
York ;  Denton's  Brief  Description  of  New  York ;  Dunlap's  History  of  New  Nether 
lands,  and  the  history  by  the  loyalist  Jones. 

f  An  Appendix  to  the  Methodist  Memorial,  containing  a  Concise  History  of 
the  Introduction  of  Methodism  on  the  Continent  of  America,  etc.  Charles  At- 
more,  Manchester,  1802. 


1T84.  THE   METHODISTS.  57 

there  were  scattered  from  New  York  to  Georgia  six  preachers 
and  a  thousand  members  of  the  sect.*  .  But  such  was  the  excite 
ment  of  the  time,  the  energy  and  force  of  the  preacher,  that, 
when  Burgoyne  surrendered,  the  membership  had  increased  to 
seven  thousand  souls,  and  the  ministers  to  forty. f  This  growth 
is  the  more  remarkable  as  every  English  preacher  except  As- 
bury  deserted  his  flock  and  went  back  to  England  when  the 
war  broke  out 4  When  peace  came,  eighty-one  men  were 
spreading  the  Methodist  worship  through  the  States.  Then,  it 
seemed  to  Wesley,  the  time  had  come  when  the  Methodist 
church  in  America  should  be  separated  from  the  Methodist 
church  in  England.  Coke,  therefore,  was  ordained,  and  a  let 
ter  dispatched  directing  the  American  brethren  to  receive 
him  and  Asbury  as  joint  superintendents  of  the  flock.  A  few 
days  later  Coke  was  on  the  sea.  A  few  weeks  later  he  landed 
at  New  York,  and  went  with  all  speed  toward  Baltimore.  On 
Sunday,  the  fourteenth  of  November,  1784,  the  very  day  on 
which  the  first  Protestant  Episcopal  Bishop  for  America  was 
ordained  at  Aberdeen,  he  preached  to  a  great  crowd  in  a  little 
meeting-house  in  the  woods.  When  he  was  done,  a  rough-clad 
man  came  out  of  the  crowd  and  kissed  him.  The  man  was 
Asbury,  who,  the  next  Christmas  eve,  at  Baltimore,  was  raised 
to  the  dignity  of  Bishop. 

It  was  long,  however,  before  the  Methodists  made  prose 
lytes  and  built  churches  in  the  towns  along  the  great  river 
that  flowed  by  New  York.  Chief  among  them  was  Albany.  || 
The  city,  indeed,  was  next  in  importance  to  New  York  in  the 
State,  and  sixth  in  rank  in  the  country.  The  place  had  been 
laid  out  early  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and,  after  an  exist 
ence  of  over  a  hundred  years,  had  grown  to  be  a  flourishing 
Dutch  town  of  five  hundred  houses  and  thirty-eight  hundred 
souls.A  It  could  not,  indeed,  be  said  to  have  a  rival  on  the 
river  unless  it  was  Poughkeepsie,  then  a  village  large  enough 


*  Atmorc's  Appendix  to  the  Methodist  Memorial. 

t  Ibid.  J  Ibid. 

[j  For  an  account  of  Albany,  see  Morse's  American  Geography,  edition  1784, 
a  most  curious  book  ;  Mrs.  Grant's  Diary  of  an  American  Lady ;  Watson's  His 
torical  Tales  ;  and  the  Scammel  Letters,  Historical  Magazine,  September,  1870. 

A  New  York  Gazette,  August  17,  1786. 


58  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN  1784.  CHAP.  i. 

and  prosperous  enough  to  support  a  weekly  journal.  Troy 
was  not  much  more  than  a  collection  of  the  houses  and  barns 
of  a  half-dozen  Yan  Rensselaers.  The  site  of  Hudson  was  a 
farm.  Tarrytown  was  a  pretty  village.  At  Newburg  a  few 
buildings  clustered  about  an  inn.  Albany  was,  therefore,  in 
the  estimation  of  the  inhabitants,  a  great  city.  The  pros 
perity  of  her  merchants  was  the  envy  of  far  larger  places. 
Her  steadily  growing  trade  was  the  boast  of  her  citizens.  The 
time,  they  said,  was  surely  coming,  nay,  was  almost  at  hand, 
when  she  would  rival  Boston  and  Philadelphia  in  magnificence, 
and  become  the  emporium  of  northern  trade.  Did  she  not 
stand  at  the  very  head  of  the  navigable  waters  of  the  Hudson  ? 
It  was  plain,  therefore,  that  she  need  fear  no  northern  rival. 
Was  she  not  surrounded  by  boundless  forests  of  fir  and  pine  ? 
"Was  she  not  on  the  only  open  route  to  Canada  ?  Did  she  not 
command  the  Indian  trade  of  the  North  and  North-west  ?  Was 
she  not  at  the  foot  of  that  rich  and  splendid  valley  already 
famous  for  its  wheat-fields  and  corn-fields  and  rye  ?  Did  not 
her  commerce  employ  upward  of  ninety  shallops?  It  was 
simply  a  question  of  time  then  how  soon  her  docks  would  be 
crowded  with  sloops  from  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth, 
bringing  the  spices  and  rich  fabrics  of  the  South  to  be  ex 
changed  for  the  rare  furs  of  the  North  ;  when  her  warehouses 
would  be  filled  with  skins  from  Canada  and  Oswego ;  when 
her  yards  would  be  stocked  high  with  lumber  from  the  moun 
tains  ;  when  her  streets  would  be  blocked  with  long  trains  of 
wagons  laden  with  the  products  of  the  western  farms ;  when, 
after  every  harvest,  her  granaries  would  run  over  with  wheat 
and  corn  and  rye  from  the  fertile  lands  along  the  borders  of 
the  Mohawk  and  the  Genesee. 

But  with  boasts  of  the  citizens  were  mingled  the  invec 
tives  and  sarcasms  of  strangers.  Travellers  of  every  rank 
complained  bitterly  of  the  inhospitality  of  the  Albanians,  and 
the  avarice  and  close-fistedness  of  the  merchants.  The  fer 
tility  of  American  soil,  the  salubrity  of  an  American  climate, 
had  not,  they  said,  modified  one  jot  the  cold,  taciturn,  stingy 
Dutchman.  They  admitted  that  Albany  was  a  place  where  a 
man  with  a  modest  competence  could,  in  time,  acquire  riches ; 
where  a  man  with  money  could,  in  a  short  space  of  time. 


1784.  ALBANY.  59 

amass  a  fortune.  But  nobody  would  ever  go  to  Albany  who 
could  by  any  possibility  stay  away,  nor,  being  there,  would 
tarry  one  moment  longer  than  necessary.  There,  Dutch  names 
and  families,  Dutch  habits  and  customs,  survived  for  the  longest 
time.  Albanians  continued  to  keep  Kerstydt  and  JSTieuw  Jar, 
Paas,  Pinxter,  and  San  Claas,  in  the  old  Dutch  fashion  many 
years  after  they  had  been  greatly  modified  at  New  York.  It 
was  remarked  by  an  humble  topographer  that  so  late  as  1Y84 
they  knew  nothing  of  the  plays  and  social  amusements  com 
mon  in  New  York.  The  few  who  affected  a  life  of  ease  and 
pleasure  spent  their  time  in  walking  and  "sitting  in  mead- 
houses,"  went  regularly  to  their  favorite  tavern  at  eleven 
o'clock,  played  cards,  billiards,  and  chess,  staid  till  dinner,  and 
came  home  in  the  evening.  The  town  water  was  so  bad  as  to 
be  undrinkable  by  a  stranger,  and  was  but  sparingly  indulged 
in  by  the  inhabitants.  Its  place  was  therefore  largely  sup- 
plied"by  punch,  schnapps,  and  Madeira.  The  principal  streets 
ran  parallel  to  the  river,  were  wide,  uripaved,  and  in  many 
months  of  the  year  heavy  with  mud.  Six  or  eight  lanes 
crossing  these  almost  at  right  angles  completed  the  town. 
The  shops,  seventy  in  number,  clustered  along  Pearl  and 
Water  streets.  In  them  were  offered  for  sale,  among  heaps 
of  wampum  and  strings  of  glass  beads,  goods  whose  names 
are  wholly  unintelligible  to  the  shopkeepers  of  this  genera 
tion.*  There  were  to  be  found  tammies,  half-thicks,  per- 
sians  and  pelongs,  blue  sagatha  and  red  bunts,  ticklen- 
burghs  and  black  everlastings,  and  handkerchiefs  known 
under  the  names  of  bandanoe,  lungee,  romals,  culgee,  putti- 
cal,  and  silk  setetersoy.f  The  houses,  scarce  one  of  which 
can  now  be  found  in  the  city,  were  built  after  the  Dutch 
Gothic  style ;  three  sides  were  of  boards,  or  roughly  squared 


*  Wampum,  or  white  money,  was  originally  made  from  the  periwinkle ;  suck- 
hannock,  or  black  money,  from  the  inside  of  the  shell  of  the  hard  clam.  The 
most  valued  money  of  the  Indians — their  gold,  in  fact — was  a  black  glass  bead  about 
a  third  of  an  inch  long,  highly  polished,  and  bored  lengthways.  Three  pieces  of 
black,  and  six  of  white  money,  made  a  penny,  or  a  Dutch  stuyvcr.  Among  the 
fur-traders  at  this  time  was  the  father  of  Gerrit  Smith.  See  Life  of  Gerrit  Pmith, 
by  0.  B.  Frothingham,  p.  6.  John  Jacob  Astor  had  but  just  landed  at  New  York 
with  his  stock  of  violins. 

f  See  the  newspaper  advertisements  of  the  time. 


60  TOE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

timbers.  The  fourth,  always  a  gable  end  facing  the  street, 
was  of  yellow  Holland  brick,  with  a  high  pediment  roof 
stepped  off  on  each  side  like  a  flight  of  stairs,  and  surmounted 
by  an  iron  horse  as  a  weather-vane.  In  the  middle  of  the 
brick  gable  was  the  door,  with  a  stoop  flanked  on  each  side  by 
seats,  where,  in  the  long  summer  evenings,  the  whole  family 
gathered. 

But  one  other  appendage  to  the  house  must  be  noticed,  as 
it  greatly  excited  the  derision  of  travellers  familiar  with  the 
neater  streets  of  Boston  and  New  York.  Tin  gutters  pro 
jected  from  the  roofs  far  out  over  the  foot-paths,  and  in  rainy 
weather  discharged  torrents  of  water  into  the  unpaved  streets, 
drenching  the  horsemen  and  splashing  the  foot-traveller  with 
mud  from  head  to  foot.* 

Beyond  the  city,  to  the  north  and  west,  the  country  was 
an  unbroken  wilderness.  That  beautiful  region  renowned 
for  the  majesty  of  its  scenery,  whose  wilds  are  now  the  sites 
of  watering-places  famous  from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the 
other,  whose  mountains  and  forests  are  every  summer  the 
resort  of  artists  and  tourists,  fishermen  and  hunters,  was 
rarely  explored  by  trappers.  The  fertility  of  the  valley  of 
the  Mohawk  was  indeed  well  known,  but  the  power  of  the 
Six  Nations  was  far  from  broken,  and  the  jealousy  with  which 
the  Indians  beheld  the  slightest  encroachment  on  their  hunt 
ing  ground  made  every  attempt  at  opening  up  the  country 
an  undertaking  full  of  danger.  As  if  the  vengeance  of  the 
savage  were  not  enough,  there  came  up  from  the  newly 
ploughed  land  a  terrible  malaria,  known  as  the  Genesee 
fever,  which,  unchecked  by  the  rude  medical  knowledge  of 
the  time,  swept  off  whole  families  of  settlers.  It  was  not  till 
1Y89  that  the  tide  of  immigration  began  to  set  in  strongly, 

*  A  traveller  who  saw  Albany  in  1776  has  left  us  a  pleasing  description  of  the 
place.  "  I  was  not  a  little  surprized  to  find  Albany  to  be  so  durty  a  city  the 
houses  in  the  Dutch  Taste,  the  Inside  clean  to  a  fault  even  their  Cyder  Barrels 
are  kept  scour'd  as  clean  as  their  Dishes,  their  women  are  continually  employed 
in  scouring  the  floors,  one  drop  of  Ink  In  a  house  will  breed  a  Riot,  till  it  is  erazed 
by  Soap  and  sand,  and  Dishclouts,  whilst  their  Streets  are  excessive  durty,  and  the 
outside  of  the  Houses  resemble  welchmans  Breeches,  void  of  all  form  and  Com- 
liness."  A  letter  to  Miss  Nabby  Bishop,  June  2,  1776.  In  the  Scaminel  Letters. 
Historical  Magazine,  September,  1870. 


1T84.  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWNS.  61 

and  that  thousands   of   ox-sleighs   annually   went   out   from 
Albany. 

When  Washington,  in  the  summer  of  1783,  went  through 
the  central  part  of  New  York  State  with  Clinton,  Oswego  was 
a  military  post  on  the  extreme  frontier,  where  a  few  enterprising 
traders  carried  on  a  nourishing  commerce  with  the  Cayugas, 
the  Senecas,  and  the  Tuscaroras,  who  brought  thither  skins  of 
the  buffalo,  the  bear,  the  otter,  and  the  lynx,  to  exchange  for 
strings  of  wampum,  hundreds  of  periwinkle  shells,  and  bits  of 
colored  glass.  Deer  browsed  and  black  bears  roamed  at  will 
over  the  plain  where  Kochester  now  stands.  Foxes  and  wolves 
were  plentiful  on  the  site  of  Syracuse.  At  Saratoga,  since 
renowned  over  the  whole  earth  for  its  mineral-waters,  a  single 
spring,  long  known  to  the  Indians  for  its  medicinal  proper 
ties,  bubbled  up  through  a  barrel  sunk  in  the  ground. 
***f  It  would  indeed  be  tedious  to  enumerate  the  many  towns 
now  great  and  opulent  which  were  then  wretched  hamlets, 
or  whose  streets  had  not  yet  been  laid  out,  No  manufactur 
ing  villages  were  to  be  found  in  all  New  England.  Beavers 
built  their  dams  unmolested  along  the  banks  of  streams  since 
crowded  with  mills  and  factories,  each  one  of  which  finds 
work  for  more  men  and  women  than,  to  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  made  up  the  population  of  the  largest 
country  town  of  America.  At  Springfield  a  few  houses  were 
strung  along  the  post-road ;  Lawrence  was  a  squalid  hamlet ; 
Manchester  was  no  better.  When,  in  1820,  the  fourth  census 
was  taken,  the  country  around  Lowell  was  a  wilderness  where 
sportsmen  shot  game.  The  splendid  falls  which  now  furnish 
power  to  innumerable  looms  were  all  unused,  and  the  two 
hundred  needy  beings  who  comprised  the  whole  population 
of  the  town  found  their  sole  support  in  the  sturgeon  and 
alewives  taken  from  the  waters  of  the  Concord  and  the  Merri- 
mack.*  Indeed,  the  condition  of  the  manufactures  at  that 
time  was  most  deplorable.  With  the  exception  of  a  few  mills 
for  the  manufacture  of  paper,  scarce  so  good  in  quality  as  that 
grocers  are  now  accustomed  to  wrap  around  pounds  of  sugar 
and  tea ;  a  foundry  or  two,  where  iron  was  melted  into  rude 
pigs,  or  beaten  into  bars  or  nails ;  a  factory  where  cocked  hats 

*  Miles's  Lowell  as  it  Was  and  as  it  Is,  p.  10. 


62  THE   STATE  OF  AMERICA  IN  1784.  CHAP.  i. 

and  felts  were  made,  no  manufactures  could  be  said  to  exist. 
Cotton  was  never  seen  growing  but  in  gardens  among  the 
rose-bushes  and  honeysuckle-vines.  A  little  had  indeed  been 
sent  to  Liverpool  five  years  before  the  fight  at  Lexington. 
Eight  bags  were  again  sent  out  in  1784,  but  when  the  ship 
sailed  into  that  port  the  officers  of  the  customs  seized  them, 
as  it  was  well  known  that  so  much  cotton  could  never  have 
come  from  America.*  The  Constitution  had  been  framed  and 
adopted  before  the  first  Arkwright  spinning-machine  was  set 
up  in  this  country,  before  the  first  bounty  was  offered,  or  the 
first  cotton-mill  erected  in  Fawtucket.  The  place  now  held 
by  cotton  fabrics  was  filled  by  linen  spun  at  every  farmer's 
hearth,  but  nowhere  so  extensively  as  in  New  England.  To 
spin  well  was  then  esteemed  an  accomplishment  of  which  any 
damsel  might  well  be  proud.  Nor  were  any  means  of  encour 
agement  left  untried.  To  the  poor,  bounties  were  offered. 
The  rich  brought  into  fashion  the  "spinning  bee,"  which 
continued  in  vogue  in  many  country  towns  when  the  ladies  of 
the  great  cities  had  long  deserted  the  wheel  for  the  harpsi 
chord  and  the  spinet.  The  bee  was  generally  held  in  the 
town-hall ;  but  if  the  village  were  not  prosperous  enough  to 
own  such  a  building,  the  house  of  some  minister  was  chosen. 
Thither  the  women  went  with  their  spinning-wheels  and  fiax, 
and,  as  they  spun,  were  brought  cake  and  wine  and  tea  by  the 
fine  gentlemen  of  the  town. 

Though  the  inland  towns  were  thus  mean  and  squalid, 
those  scattered  along  the  sea-coast  from  Portsmouth  to  New 
London  were  thriving  and  populous.  Their  proximity  to  the 
water  had  made  them  great  trading  and  fishing  ports.  Indeed, 
before  the  revolution,  scarcely  one  could  be  found  among 
them  whose  citizens  had  not  some  venture  on  the  sea,  either 
of  a  regular  or  irregular  kind.  The  harsh  restrictions  laid  by 
the  mother  country  on  the  commerce  of  her  colonies  had  led 
to  smuggling,  and  smuggling  had  proved  a  sure  road  to  wealth. 
In  every  town  prominent  characters  could  be  pointed  out 
who,  when  the  States  were  under  British  rule,  had  constantly 
stowed  away  in  their  cellars  and  attics  goods  they  would  have 

*  Smithers'  History  of  Liverpool,  p.  129;  De  Bow's  Industrial  Resources  of 
the  United  States,  vol.  i,  pp.  119,  120. 


1784.  NANTUCKET  ISLAND.  63 

been  loath  to  have  the  officers  of  the  customs  see.  To  these 
harbors  came  vessels  built  for  speed  and  laden  with  contra 
band  ware  gathered  in  the  colonies  of  France  and  Spain.  Of 
this  trade  Boston  was  long  the  centre,  and  many  a  merchant 
of  high  repute  did  not  disdain  to  engage  in  it.  Thus,  on  the 
very  day  when  the  farmers  and  ploughmen  of  Middlesex 
drove  the  British  out  of  Lexington,  John  Hancock  was  to 
have  stood  trial  for  defrauding  the  customs. 

The  war  changed  all  this.  Smuggling  almost  ceased,  and 
the  crews  once  engaged  in  it  found  occupation  at  the  Grand 
Banks  or  on  the  whaling  fleets  that  went  out  each  year. 
Spermaceti  whales,  now  almost  driven  from  the  sea,  were 
then  most  plentiful,  came  some  seasons  as  far  south  as  Cape 
Ann  and  Montauk  Point,  had  been  seen  by  old  whalers  in 
schools  off  the  coast  of  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut,  and 
were  at  times  found  stranded  on  the  shores  of  Long  Island 
sou^d.* 

The  oil  obtained  from  these  creatures  commanded  a  ready 
sale  and  a  high  price.  The  whale-fishery  became,  accordingly, 
in  spite  of  its  hardships  and  dangers,  a  favorite  occupation  of 
the  fishermen  of  Xew  England.  Falmouth  and  Barnstable, 
Martha's  Yineyard  and  Cape  Ann,  were  noted  whaling  ports ; 
but  foremost  among  them  all  was  Nantucket.  The  town 
stood  on  a  little  strip  of  sand  scarce  four  miles  wide  and  fifteen 

*  The  fishermen  of  Cape  Cod  were  the  first  to  begin  whale-fishing,  and  it  was 
from  them  that  the  Nantucket  fishers  learned  the  use  of  the  harpoon.  Sperma 
ceti  whales  had  from  time  to  time  been  found  dead  on  the  Massachusetts  and 
Rhode  Island  shore;  but  it  was  not  till  1712  that  the  first  living  one  was  cap 
tured  by  Christopher  Hassey.  Hassey  was  a  Nantucket  fisherman,  and  had  gone 
out  in  search  of  right  whales,  was  caught  in-  a  storm,  blown  off  shore  and  into 
a  school  of  spermaceti  whales.  One  of  them  he  killed  and  towed  to  land.  From 
that  time  forth  great  numbers  were  taken  every  year.  In  1726,  as  many  as  eighty- 
six  were  killed  off  the  Nantucket  coast.  In  1784,  the  favorite  cruising-ground 
was  the  gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  banks  of  Newfoundland,  Davis's  strait,  straits  of 
Belle  Isle,  and  even  so  far  away  as  Cape  Desolation.  The  crude  oil  then  brought 
£24  per  ton,  and  paid  a  duty  of  £18  per  ton  at  the  port  of  Liverpool.  It  may  be 
interesting  to  state  that  the  first  vessel  that  ever  entered  a  British  port  bearing 
the  stars  and  stripes  was  a  Nantucket  whaler  laden  with  oil.  A  good  history  of 
the  New  England  whale-fishery  has  yet  to  be  written,  but  some  facts  regarding  it 
may  be  had  from  Hunt's  Merchant's  Magazine,  vol.  iii ;  North  American  Review, 
vol.  xxxviii ;  and  Obed  Marcy's  History  of  Nantucket.  See,  also,  Brown's  Whaling 
Cruise,  and  History  of  the  Whale-Fishery . 


64:  THE   STATE   OF   AMERICA   IN"   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

long,  that  rose  from  the  ocean,  and  was,  before  the  war,  a 
busy  hive  of  seafaring  men,  where  ships  were  built,  where 
cordage  and  rigging  were  made,  and  whence  set  sail  each  year 
to  the  whaling  grounds  one  hundred  and  fifty  ships.  When 
the  war  closed,  all  this  prosperity  and  greatness  had  ended. 
The  rope-walks  were  deserted.  The  docks  and  wharfs  had 
fallen  into  decay.  A  few  old  hulks  were  all  that  remained  of 
the  once  gallant  little  navy.  The  population  had  sadly  de 
creased.  Grass  grew  in  the  streets  of  the  town.  Of  the 
whalemen,  a  few  were  serving  in  the  crews  of  privateers, 
but  the  larger  number,  enticed  by  the  liberal  offers  of  Eng 
land,  had  settled  at  Halifax  to  take  part  in  the  wThaling  ven 
tures  that  went  out  from  thence.* 

To  the  south  of  New  York  no  place  of  importance  was  to 
be  met  with  till  Philadelphia  was  reached.  The  city  was 
then  the  greatest  in  the  country.  No  other  could  boast  of  so 
many  streets,  so  many  houses,  so  many  people,  so  much  re 
nown,  f  There  had  been  made  the  discoveries  which  car 
ried  the  name  of  Franklin  to  the  remotest  spots  of  the  civil 
ized  world.  There  had  been  put  forth  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.  There  had  long  been  held  the  deliberations 
of  Congress.  No  other  city  was  so  rich,  so  extravagant,  so 
fashionable.  Seven  years  before,  Lee  had  described  the  place 
as  an  attractive  scene  of  amusement  and  debauch.:):  Lovel  * 
had  called  it  a  place  of  crucifying  expenses.  And  this  repu 
tation  it  still  maintained.  But  the  features  that  most  im 
pressed  travellers  from  distant  lands  were  the  fineness  of  the 
houses,  the  goodness  of  the  pavement,  the  filthiness  of  the 
carriage-ways,  ||  the  regular  arrangement  of  the  streets,  and  the 

*  See  Obed  Marcy's  History  of  Nantucket  Island ;  Letters  from  an  American 
Fanner,  by  Hector  St.  John  Crevecoeur. 

f  In  1786,  the  number  of  houses  in  Philadelphia  was  4,600;  in  New  York, 
3,500;  in  Boston,  2,100.  The  population  of  Philadelphia  was  32,205;  of  New 
York,  24,500  ;  of  Boston,  14,640.  See  New  York  Gazette,  August  17,  1786. 

\  R.  H.  Lea  to  Washington.  Sparks's  Correspondence  of  the  Revolution, 
vol.  i. 

*  James  Lovel  to  Washington.    Sparks's  Correspondence  of  the  Revolution, 
vol.  i. 

||  The  streets  of  the  city  finally  became  so  full  of  filth,  dead  cats  and  dead 
dogs,  that  their  condition  was  made  the  subject  of  a  satire  by  Francis  Hopkinson, 
better  known  as  the  author  of  the  Battle  of  the  Kegs.  In  a  piece  which  he 


1784.  THE   DRESS   OF   THE   WOMEN.  65 

singular  custom  of  numbering  some  and  giving  to  others  the 
names  of  forest-trees.* 

One  of  these,  Chestnut,  long  since  given  up  to  the  de 
mands  of  commerce,  and  lined  with  banks,  with  warehouses, 
and  with  shops,  was  the  fashionable  walk.  There  every  fine 
day,  when  business  was  over,  when  the  bank  was  closed,  when 
the  exchange  was  deserted,  crowds  of  pleasure-seekers  gath 
ered  to  enjoy  the  air  and  display  their  rich  clothes.  If  the 
dress  that  has  displaced  the  garb  of  that  period  be  less  taste 
ful,  it  must  be  owned  it  is  at  least  more  convenient.  A  gen 
tleman  of  the  last  century,  if  he  were  a  man  of  fashion  or  of 
means,  wore  a  three-cornered  cocked  hat  heavily  laced.  His 
hair  was  done  up  in  a  cue,  and  its  natural  shade  concealed  by 
a  profusion  of  powder.  His  coat  was  light-colored,  with 
diminutive  cape,  marvellously  long  back,  and  silver  buttons 
engraved  with  the  letters  of  his  name.  His  small  clothes 
came  scarce  to  his  knees  ;  his  stockings  were  striped ;  his  shoe's 
pointed,  and  adorned  with  huge  buckles ;  his  vest  had  flap- 
pockets  ;  his  cuifs  were  loaded  with  lead.  If  he  were  so 
happy  as  to  have  seen  some  service  during  the  war,  he  affected 
a  military  bearing,  and  had  much  to  say  of  campaigns.  When 
he  bowed  to  the  damsels  that  passed  him,  he  took  half  the 
sidewalk  as  he  flourished  his  cane  and  scraped  his  foot.  Nor 
does  the  dress  of  the  lady,  as  she  gravely  returned  his  saluta 
tion  and  courtesied  almost  to  the  earth,  seem  less  strange  to 
us.  Those  were  the  days  of  gorgeous  brocades  and  taffetas, 
luxuriantly  displayed  over  cumbrous  hoops,  which,  flattened 
before  and  behind,  stood  out  for  two  feet  on  each  side ;  of 
tower-built  hats,  adorned  with  tall  feathers;  of  calash  and 
muskmelon-bonnets ;  of  high  wooden  heels,  fancifully  cut ;  of 
gowns  without  fronts ;  of  fine  satin  petticoats ;  and  of  implanted 
teeth.  This  singular  custom  had  but  lately  been  brought  in 
by  one  La  Mayeur,  and  had  rapidly  become  fashionable.  La 
Mayeur  called  himself  a  doctor,  advertised  his  business  ex- 
called  Dialogues  of  the  Dead,  a  conversation  is  made  to  take  place  between  the 
carcasses  of  a  cat  and  dog  lying  in  one  of  the  streets.  The  dialogue  is  without 
wit,  but  is  said  to  have  aroused  the  street  commissioners  to  a  sense  of  duty.  It 
was  afterward  republished  in  the  American  Museum  for  March,  17S7. 

*  Smyth,  in  his  Tour  through  the  United  States  of  America  in  1784,  com. 
ments  on  these  singular  appellations  of  the  streets. 
VOL.  i. — 6 


66  THE   STATE   OF   AMERICA  IN  1784.  CHAP.  I. 

tensively,  was  largely  patronized  by  the  ladies,  and,  at  the 
end  of  a  few  months,  went  off,  it  was  believed,  with  a  small 
fortune.  One  of  his  advertisements  is  yet  extant.  In  it  he 
announces  to  the  people  of  Philadelphia  that  his  business  is 
to  transplant  teeth ;  that  he  has,  within  the  six  months  just 
passed,  successfully  transplanted  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
three,  and  assures  those  having  front  teeth  for  sale  that  he 
will  give  two  guineas  for  every  sound  one  brought  him. 

The  dreariness  of  winter  evenings  was  broken  by  dancing 
assemblies  and  plays.  The  assemblies  were  of  fortnightly 
occurrence,  and  very  select.*  The  price  of  a  season  ticket  was 
three  pounds  fifteen  shillings.  But  it  was  thought  highly  im 
proper  that  divertisements  of  this  kind  should  be  attended  by 
young  men  under  twenty,  or  by  young  women  under  eighteen. 
They  were,  therefore,  rigorously  excluded.  Nor  did  such 
damsels  as  found  admittance  reap  any  benefit  from  beauty, 
from  wit,  or  from  the  possession  of  any  of  those  charms  now 
so  highly  prized.  The  plainest  and  the  fairest  were  treated 
alike.  For  partners  were  chosen  by  lot,  and  were  partners  for 
the  evening,  f  They  danced,  walked,  and  flirted  with  no  one 
else,  and,  when  the  dancing  was  over,  partook  together  of 
rusks  and  tea.  The  next  evening  the  gentleman  came  to  sup 
with  the  parents  of  the  young  woman  who  had  fallen  to  his 
lot  at  the  assembly,  an  event  which  was  made  the  occasion  for 
a  great  display  of  plate,  of  china,  and  of  ceremony.:):  Many 
of  the  table  manners  then  in  vogue  have  fallen  into  disuse  and 
been  utterly  forgotten,  but  one  has  been  preserved  to  us  by 

*  In  many  of  the  old  advertisements  it  is  announced  that  these  assemblies  will 
open  with  a  Passe-Pie  and  end  with  the  Sarabund  a  1'Espagnole.  See  New 
York  Packet,  January  5,  1784. 

f  On  the  Ohio  such  matters  were  differently  managed.  One  who  was  no  mean 
observer  has  left  us  an  amusing  account  of  the  routs  and  balls  of  Louisville : 
"The  Manager  who  distributed  the  numbers,  call'd  Gent  No.  1.  He  takes  his 
stand. — Lady  No.  1.  she  rises  from  her  seat,  the  Manager  leader  to  the  floor  & 
introduces  the  Gentn  No.  1 —  &  so  on  'till  the  floor  is  f ul.  ...  At  the  refreshments, 
the  Gentn  will,  by  instinct,  without  Chesterfieldian  monition,  see  that  his  better 
half  (for  the  time  being)  has  a  quantum  sufficit,  of  all  the  nice  delicacies,  &  that 
without  his  cramming  his  jaws  full  untill  he  has  reconducted  her  to  the  ball-room 
— then  he  is  at  liberty  to  absent  himself  a  while."  Autobiography  of  Major 
Samuel  S.  Forman.  See  Historical  Magazine  for  December,  1869. 

$  Scharf's  Chronicles  of  Baltimore,  p.  229. 


1784.  CURIOUS  CUSTOMS.  67 

an  anecdote  that  is  worth  citing.  It  would,  it  seems,  have 
been  thought  as  rude  for  the  guest  to  refuse  to  partake  of  a 
dish  a  fourth  or  fifth  time,  if  asked  so  to  do,  as  it  would  have 
been  thought  negligent  in  the  hostess  to  omit  to  press  him. 
There  seemed,  therefore,  to  be  no  limit  to  the  number  of 
times  the  lady  of  the  house  was  constrained  to  ask,  and  the 
number  of  times  the  visitor  was  constrained  to  accept.  But, 
happily,  there  was  in  use  a  kind  of  freemasonry  signals  by 
which  he  conveyed,  by  the  position  of  his  plate,  by  the  ar 
rangement  of  his  knife  and  fork,  by  the  way  in  which  he  dis 
posed  of  his  spoon,  his  wish  not  to  be  invited  to  be  helped 
again  to  slices  of  chicken  and  saucers  of  jam.  This  custom 
sorely  puzzled  the  uninitiated,  and  gave  rise  to  many  amusing 
incidents,  one  of  which  happened  to  the  Prince  de  Broglie. 
The  prince,  who  travelled  in  our  country  in  1782,  relates,  in 
one  of  his  letters,  that  he  was  invited  to  dine  with  the  lady 
of  Robert  Morris  ;  that  he  went ;  that  he  was  repeatedly  asked 
to  have  his  cup  refilled  ;  that  he  consented ;  and  that,  when  he 
had  swallowed  the  twelfth  cup  of  tea,  his  neighbor  whispered 
in  his  ear  and  told  him  when  he  had  had  enough  of  the  water 
diet  he  should  place  his  spoon  across  his  cup,  else  the  hostess 
would  go  on  urging  him  to  drink  tea  till  the  crack  of  doom.* 
From  Philadelphia  ran  out  the  road  to  what  was  then  the 
far  West.  Its  course  after  leaving  the  city  lay  through  the 
counties  of  Chester  and  Lancaster,  then  sparsely  settled,  now 
thick  with  towns  and  cities  and  penetrated  with  innumerable 
railways,  and  went  over  the  Blue  Ridge  mountains  to  Ship- 
pensburg  and  the  little  town  of  Bedford.  Thence  it  wound 
through  the  beautiful  hills  of  western  Pennsylvania,  and  crossed 
the  Alleghany  mountains  to  the  head-waters  of  the  Ohio.  It 
was  known  to  travellers  as  the  northern  route,  and  was  declared 
to  be  execrable.  In  reality  it  was  merely  a  passable  road,  broad 
and  level  in  the  lowlands,  narrow  and  dangerous  in  the  passes 
of  the  mountains,  and  beset  with  steep  declivities.  Yet  it  was 
the  chief  highway  between  the  Mississippi  valley  and  the  East, 
and  was  constantly  travelled  in  the  summer  months  by  thou 
sands  of  emigrants  to  the  western  country,  and  by  long  trains 

*  Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  History  and  Biography,  1878,  vol.  ii,  No.  2,  pp. 
166,  167. 


68  THE  STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN  1784.  CHAP.  I. 

of  wagons  bringing  the  produce  of  the  little  farms  on  the 
banks  of  the  Ohio  to  the  markets  of  Philadelphia  and  Balti 
more.  In  any  other  section  of  the  country  a  road  so  fre 
quented  would  have  been  considered  as  eminently  pleasant  and 
safe.  But  some  years  later  the  traveller  who  was  forced  to 
make  the  journey  from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburg  in  his  car 
riage  and  four,  beheld  with  dread  the  cloud  of  dust  which 
marked  the  slow  approach  of  a  train  of  wagons.  For  nothing 
excited  the  anger  of  the  sturdy  teamsters  more  than  the  sight 
of  a  carriage.  To  them  it  was  the  unmistakable  mark  of  aris 
tocracy,  and  they  were  indeed  in  a  particularly  good  humor 
when  they  suffered  the  despised  vehicle  to  draw  up  by  the 
road-side  without  breaking  the  shaft,  or  taking  off  the  wheels, 
or  tumbling  it  over  into  the  ditch.*  His  troubles  over,  the 
traveller  found  himself  at  a  small  hamlet  then  known  as 
Pittsburg.  The  place  bore  no  likeness  to  the  great  and 
wealthy  city  now  standing  on  the  same  spot  and  bearing  the 
same  name,  whose  streets  are  bordered  with  stately  dwellings 
and  stores,  whose  population  numbers  more  than  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand,  and  whose  air  is  thick  with  the  smoke  and 
soot  of  a  hundred  foundries,  machine-shops,  and  factories.f 
Yet,  small  as  was  the  town,  many  historical  associations  gath 
ered  about  it.  At  that  very  point,  where  the  Alleghany  sweep 
ing  from  the  north,  and  the  Monongahela  from  the  south, 
mingle  their  waters  to  form  the  Ohio,  had  stood,  years  before, 

*  Such  mishaps  were,  in  1784,  quite  unknown,  for  no  carriages  then  found  their 
way  to  so  remote  a  spot  as  Pittsburg.  But  in  a  few  years  they  became  of  com 
mon  occurrence,  and  continued  to  be  when  Madison  was  President. 

f  A  good  description  of  Pittsburg  at  that  time  was  published  in  the  Pitts 
burg  Gazette  of  July  29,  1786,  the  first  number  of  the  first  newspaper  ever 
printed  west  of  the  Allcghanies.  II.  H.  Brackenridge,  whose  famous  novel, 
Modern  Chivalry,  is  still  to  be  found  on  the  shelves  of  circulating  libraries, 
wrote  it.  See,  also,  Diary  of  Arthur  Lee,  1784,  and  An  Early  Record  of  Pittsburg, 
in  Historical  Magazine,  vol.  ii.  "  The  Towne,"  says  one  who  saw  it  in  1789,  "  The 
Towne  at  that  time  was  the  muddiest  place  that  I  ever  was  in;  and  by  reason  of 
using  so  much  Coal,  being  a  great  manufacturing  place  &  kept  in  so  much  smoke 
&  dust,  as  to  effect  the  skin  of  the  inhabitants."  Autobiography  of  Major  Sam 
uel  Forraan,  Historical  Magazine,  December,  1869.  In  1795,  the  place  is  de 
scribed  as  "  a  thriving  Town  containing  at  present  about  two  hundred  Houses, 
fifty  of  wch  are  brick  and  framed,  &  the  remainder  Log."  Journal  of  Thomas 
Chapman,  Historical  Magazine,  June,  1869.  See,  also,  Craig's  History  of  Titts- 
burg. 


1784.  PITTSBURGH  69 

Fort  Duquesne,  one  of  the  long  chain  of  posts  the  French 
erected  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Mississippi.  Not  far 
away  was  "  Braddock's  Fields,"  a  little  patch  of  land  whereon 
the  English  general  had  sustained  his  memorable  defeat,  and 
whence  the  young  Virginia  captain  had  led  the  remnant  of 
his  troops.  Just  back  of  the  town,  and  hard  by  the  banks 
of  the  Monongahela,  rose  "  Grant's  Hill,"  on  whose  summit  a 
detachment  of  Highlanders  were  surprised  and  massacred  by 
the  French  and  Indian?.  So  late  as  1784,  the  top  was  strewn 
with  their  whitened  bones,  and  with  arrow-heads  and  toma 
hawks  used  in  the  battle.  Near  by,  on  the  same  hill,  was  a 
mound  thrown  up  by  that  prehistoric  race  whose  tumuli  are 
found  on  the  crests  of  half  the  hills  from  the  Mohawk  to  the 
Bio  Grande. 

On  the  destruction  of  Fort  Duquesne,  the  place  passed  into 
the  hands  of  the  British,  who  built  Fort  Pitt.  In  1764,  at  the 
end  of  the  Indian  war,  Colonel  Campbell  laid  out  the  town  in 
four  squares  just  without  the  walls  of  the  fort,  and  named  it 
Pittsburg,  in  honor  of  the  great  commoner.  "When  Wash 
ington  saw  it  in  1770,  the  town  numbered  twenty  log  huts 
along  the  Monongahela;  but  in  the  course  of  fourteen  years 
many  new  settlers  had  come  in,  many  new  houses  had  been 
put  up,  till,  in  1784,  Pittsburg  numbered  one  hundred  dwell 
ings  and  almost  one  thousand  inhabitants.  It  was  the  cen 
tring  point  of  emigrants  to  the  West,  and  from  it  the  travel 
lers  were  carried  in  keel-boats,  in  Kentucky  flat-boats,  and 
Indian  pirogues  down  the  waters  of  the  Ohio,  past  the  beau 
tiful  island  where  long  afterward  Blennerhasset  built  his 
palace,  to  the  filthy  and  squalid  settlement  at  the  falls  of  the 
Ohio,  or  on  to  the  shores  of  the  Mississippi,  where  La  Clede, 
twenty  years  earlier,  had  laid  the  foundations  of  St.  Louis. 
Two  dangers  constantly  beset  the  voyager.  The  boat  was  at 
every  moment  likely  to  become  entangled  in  the  branches  of 
the  trees  that  skirted  the  river,  or  be  fired  into  by  the  Indians 
who  lurked  in  the  woods.  The  cabin  was  therefore  low,  that 
it  might  safely  glide  under  the  limbs  of  the  overhanging 
sycamores,  and  lined  with  blankets  and  with  beds  to  guard  the 
inmates  from  Indian  bullets.*  From  St.  Louis  rude  boats  and 

*For  a  description  of  one  of  these  boats,  and  the  trouble  they  had  when 


70  THE   STATE  OF  AMERICA  IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

rafts  floated  down  the  river  to  Natchez  and  New  Orleans. 
But  of  the  many  that  went  down  the  river  scarce  one  ever 
came  back,  for  the  current  was  so  rapid  that  it  seemed  hope 
less  to  attempt  a  return.  The  boats  were  therefore  hastily  put 
together  and  sold  at  New  Orleans  as  lumber. 

Some  settlements  had  been  attempted  in  the  region  now 
portioned  out  between  the  States  of  Indiana  and  Illinois,  but 
the  most  thickly  settled  portion  of  the  valley  lay  along  the  banks 
of  the  Kentucky  river,  and  the  tributaries  of  the  Licking. 
In  all,  upward  of  twelve  thousand  souls  were  there,  most  of 
them  having  come  across  the  Blue  Ridge  mountains  from  the 
neighboring  States  of  Georgia  and  Carolina.  For  in  the  three 
States  of  Georgia,  North  Carolina,  and  South  Carolina  were 
then  living  near  one  fifth  of  the  population  of  the  country. 
They  could,  therefore,  well  spare  the  restless  colonists  who 
yearly  went  out  from  them  to  dwell  in  the  canebrakes  and 
wilds  of  Kentucky.  One  cause  of  this  emigration  was, 
beyond  a  doubt,  the  extreme  difficulty  which  the  most  help 
less  and  dependent  class  of  society,  whose  province  it  was  to 
follow  the  plough,  to  tend  the  cattle,  and  to  toil  in  the  swamps, 
found  in  eking  out  even  a  miserable  existence.  Almost 
every  acre  of  land  close  to  the  sea-ports  was  portioned  out 
into  plantations  and  held  by  the  great  landed  proprietors. 
The  labor  was  largely  slave  labor.  The  immense  yield  of 
the  rice-fields  and  the  indigo-fields,  of  pitch  and  rosin,  had 
brought  wealth,  and  with  wealth  had  come  in  all  the  blessings 
and  all  the  evils  which  flourish  best  in  opulent  societies. 
Nowhere  else  was  good  blood  and  noble  descent  held  in  such 
high  esteem.  Nowhere  else  was  social  rank  so  clearly  defined. 
Toil  was  the  only  thing  from  which  the  rich  planter  abstained. 


passing  under  trees,  see  Autobiography  of  Major  Forman,  Historical  Magazine, 
December,  1869,  pp.  325,  326. 

All  travellers  down  the  Ohio  comment  on  the  great  size  of  the  trees.  General 
Parsons  measured  a  black-walnut  near  the  Muskingum,  and  found  the  circumfer 
ence,  five  feet  from  the  ground,  to  be  twenty-two  feet.  A  sycamore  near  the 
same  spot  measured  forty-four  feet  in  circumference,  five  feet  from  the  ground. 
See  a  pamphlet  by  Cutler,  called  An  Explanation  of  the  Map  which  delineates 
that  part  of  the  Federal  Lands,  etc.,  Salem,  1787,  p.  10.  This  statement  is 
copied  by  Morse  in  his  Geography,  edition  1789,  p.  461.  Connecticut  Courant, 
September  1,  1788. 


1784.         CHAEACTER   OF  THE   GEORGIA   PLANTER.  71 

Horse-racing  by  day  and  deer-hunting  by  night,  duelling  and 
gambling,  made  up,  with  the  social  festivities  of  the  class  to 
which  he  belonged,  his  sole  occupation  and  pleasure.* 

The  country  lying  to  the  south  of  the  Potomac  was  there 
fore,  to  a  ISTew  Englander  or  a  Pennsylvania^  a  land  almost  as 
strange  as  if  it  had  been  in  the  tropics.  There  he  sat  in  the 
shade  of  trees  whose  foliage  bore  no  resemblance  to  that  of  the 
elms  and  chestnuts  that  grew  along  the  streets  of  his  native  vil 
lage.  He  rode  for  days  through  an  endless  succession  of  tobacco- 
fields.  The  rank  vegetation  of  the  Dismal  Swamp;  the  rice- 
fields  covered  with  water;  the  sugar-cane  growing  higher 
than  he  could  reach;  the  great  forests  of  pine  yielding  an 
inexhaustible  supply  of  pitch  and  tar;  the  indigo-plant,  the 
fruits,  the  very  birds,  filled  him  with  astonishment ;  nor  did 
the  people  seem  less  strange  to  him  than  the  country.  He 
admired,  indeed,  their  open  hospitality,  but  their  appreciation 
'of  good  blood  excited  only  his  derision.  Their  pride,  their 
arrogance,  their  keen  sense  of  what  they  were  pleased  to  term 
personal  honor,  inspired  him  with  disgust.  He  could  not  un 
derstand  why  men  of  sense  and  courage  should  be  ever  ready 
to  seek  each  other's  lives  in  revenge  for  slights  and  insults 
so  trivial  that  they  would,  among  his  friends,  scarcely  have 
elicited  a  hearty  curse.  The  appearance  of  the  towns  and 
cities,  the  social  customs  and  festivities  of  the  people,  were 
unlike  anything  he  had  ever  seen  in  Boston  or  Philadelphia. 
The  language  seemed  scarcely  to  be  English.  J^or  was  he  in 
turn  less  an  object  of  wonder  to  his  host.  His  walk,  his 
dress,  the  eagerness  with  which  he  plied  his  new  friends 
with  questions,  and  the  strange  language  in  which  he  con 
veyed  his  feelings  of  surprise  and  pleasure,  marked  him  out 
at  once  as  an  object  of  interest.  The  way  he  compacted  his 
vowel  sounds  and  clipped  his  words;  the  long  sound  which 
he  gave  to  a/  the  broad  sound  with  which  he  pronounced  e; 

*  An  account  of  the  social  life  of  Georgians  and  Carolinians  before  the  revo 
lution  may  be  found  in  Ramsay's  History  of  South  Carolina,  1809.  See,  also, 
the  American  Museum  for  1790.  It  did  not  change  much  after  the  war.  In 
1791,  the  grand  jury  for  the  district  of  Charleston,  S.  C.,  presented  duelling  "as  a 
grievance  of  a  very  serious  and  alarming  nature."  Gazette  of  the  United  States, 
July  6,  1791. 


72  THE  STATE  OF  AMERICA  IX  17S4.  CHAP.  t. 

the  boldness  with  which  he  substituted  that  letter  for  t/,  and  u 
for  t — excited  many  a  good-natured  laugh  at  his  expense, 
Odd  phrases,  delightful  in  vigor  and  made  up  of  words  long 
gone  out  of  use  in  the  mother  country,  and  to  be  found  onl j 
in  the  pages  of  Drydem  of  Chapman,  of  Ben  Jonsoru  were 
constantly  in  his  month. 

Strange  as  this  section  of  the  country  seemed  to  men  from 
the  Eastern  States,  it  never  failed  to  impress  visitors  from  the 
continent  with  the  many  resemblances  it  bore  to  England. 
Especially  was  this  true  of  Virginia.  There  the  traveller 
journeying  through  the  tide-water  region  may  still  meet, 
along  the  banks  of  the  Rappahannock  and  the  James,  with 
the  crumbling  ruins  and  dilapidated  remains  of  what,  one 
Li:::r::  /"----  ."--  -  ~~->-  "---  -v  :..:.'.:s  ::.:.:.-:;:.-  ;:  :"..-:-  ri.-L 
planters.  Like  the  opulent  families  that  once  dwelt  in  them, 
by  fir  the  larger  number  have  long  since  fallen  into  decay, 
while  the  few  that  stifl  withstand  the  ravages  of  time  bear 
but  feeble  testimony  to  the  ancient  grandeur  of  their  former 
owners.  Ter  ir  is  not  impossible  to  form  from  them  even 
now  some  conception  of  what  they  were  a  century  ago.  The 
house  was  usually  of  wood,  one  story  and  a  half  or  two  stories 
high,  for  it  dated  back  to  a  time  when  the  country  did  not 
yei  furnish  penmnent  building  materials,  except  at  vast  ex 
pense,  nor  provided  skilled  arciiitects  to  make  use  of  them. 
But  the  spacious  gardens,  laid  out  in  the  prim  style,  with  the 
terraces,  the  arbors,  the  box-borders,  and  the  geometrically 
shaped  parterres  so  fashionable  a  century  since ;  the  cupola ; 
the  broad  veranda,  supported  on  massive  columns :  the  high 

-    ;:   S^LL-"  .'•:-.'.'..".•>.• 

structure,  and  the  broad  entrance,  gave  to  it  an  aspect  of  state- 
liness  by  no  means  diminished  by  the  lack  of  architectural 
adnrnmpnfc^  and  the  windows  full  of  diminutive  panes  of  iil- 
-  :•:•— T  ".  _".  -  I"  •" •>.  L  '-•.-"-.•:.  ::.  :". .-.  :  :  ::  . ".  ..:..:._ -.-:..->:.:- 
-..  -  -iLi  _  i  '  -':  i^I  —-'.--.  -  :!-:  :..:  "  ..  :..  •: 
apparent.  The  spacious  rooms  ^rere  decorated  with  carved 
oaken  wainscc»ting.  reaching  above  the  mantel-piece  in  an 
unbroken  expanse  of  flowers,  and  grinning  faces  and  armorial 
devices  in  the  corners.  There  were  Chelsea  figures,  and 


17&4.  THE   VIRGINIA  GEXTLEMAX.  73 

full  of  plate ;  and  huge  tiled  fireplaces,  whose  brass  andirons 
shone  like  gold ;  nor  were  the  stairways  and  landings  wanting 
in  grandeur. 

In  such  abo/les  the  heads  of  the  great  famili^  whose  es 
tates  stretched  far  inland  from  the  banks  of  the  Eappahan- 
nock.  lived  splendidly  and  hospitably.  Numerous  slaves  and 
white  servants  attended  them  in  every  capacity  that  use  or  os- 
:-::.:  -.'.'.  ..  ':..'.'.  -  jj  .-:,  '  :;^  ::.  .-::  -,.'•.'.-:-  -•  -_:•-_ 
the  luxuries  of  the  Old  World  and  the  Xew.  and 
these  stood  Madeira  wine  and  mm.  That  the 
generation  drank  more  deeply  than  the  men  of  ti 
be  doubted.  Then,  and  for  many  years  after. 
public  character  was  to  be  entertained,  or  a  da 
revolutionary  history  to  be  celebrated,  a  dinnei  ..  „-  _ 
up  and  toasts  drunk.  The  number  of  regular  toast- 
ways  equal  to  the  number  of  States  in  the  Union.  B::t  wh  _-L 
they  were  disposed  of.  ~  volunteers  r  were  in  order,  and  to 
these  there  was  no  fixed  limit.  S-:«merimes  as  many  as  ten 
would  be  offered  and  drunk  to.  Indeed,  on  more  than  one 
occasion  thirty  toasts  were  responded  to.  and  the  bumpers  by 
which  they  were  followed  were  strong  Jamaica  rn-r.. 

In  the  moments  snatched  from  pleasures  such  as  these,  the 
rich  Virginian  devoted  himself  to  the  care  of  his  estate  and 
the  performance  of  his  public  dur'es.  He  followed  the 
judges  on  their  circuits :  he  voted  bills  and  addresses  in  the 
House  of  Deputies,  and.  if  he  were  a  mili:iry  rim.  ~as  pres 
ent  at  the  muster  of  the  militia,  Xo  law  hid  yet  been 
passed  by  Congress  for  the  formation  of  a  nari onil  militia. 
Each  State  governed  its  own  troops  in  its  own  way.  Yet  it 
would  be  unjust  to  suppose  that  the  military  was  n :  t  an  ezi- 
eient  body  of  men.  Among  the  orix-ers  ^ere  TO  be  found 
men  with  records  of  which  any  s-:»Liier  might  well  be  p^ni 
Xot  a  few  of  the  captains  and  majors  who  stood  before  the 
ranks  were  veterans  of  a  former  war.  Some  Lad  shire»i  in  the 
victory  of  the  Great  Meadows :  Lid  defended  to  the  last  F-irt 
Necessity,  and.  when  no  longer  tenable,  marched  out  with  aH 
the  honors  of  war :  had  followed  Washington  and  Braddock  to 
the  fatal  field  of  MonongaheLa,  and.  by  their  coolness  and  skill 
covered  the  disorderly  retreat  of  the  more  disciplined  soldiers 


74  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN   1784.  CHAP.  L 

of  England.  Others,  too  young  to  have  shared  in  such  ex 
ploits,  had  hastened,  when  independence  was  declared,  to  join 
the  army  commanded  by  the  illustrious  Virginian,  had  stood 
by  him  in  his  retreat  through  the  Jerseys,  marched  with  him 
through  the  ice  and  snow  of  that  glorious  December  morning 
when  he  charged  the  Hessian  camp  at  Trenton,  took  part  in 
the  fight  at  Princeton,  shared  in  the  defeats  at  Brandywine 
and  Germantown,  and  beat  back  the  troops  of  Cornwallis 
when  they  sallied  from  the  works  at  Yorktown. 

The  son  of  a  great  landed  proprietor  usually  grew  up  to 
manhood  on  his  father's  plantation,  rode  every  morning,  at 
tended  by  his  servant,  to  the  school  kept  in  the  neighboring 
parish  by  a  clergyman  of  the  English  Church,  passed  thence 
to  William  and  Mary's  college,  spent  a  winter  at  Richmond, 
and  came  back  to  the  old  hall  an  aspirant  for  a  seat  in  the 
House  of  Deputies.  His  opinions  respecting  forms  of  govern 
ment  and  forms  cf  creed  were  not  the  result  of  long  study  or 
of  deep  meditation,  but  were  inherited  with  his  estate,  which 
passed  from  father  to  son  by  the  strictest  laws  of  entail. 
Whether  Catholicism  or  Protestantism  embraced  the  purer 
creed  or  the  more  divine  form  of  worship,  whether  nations 
were  wiser,  better  governed,  more  prosperous,  under  heredi 
tary  monarchs,  electoral  princes,  or  presidents,  were  matters 
on  which  it  would  have  puzzled  him  to  give  an  opinion ;  he 
was  devotedly  attached  to  the  ritual  and  polity  of  the  Angli 
can  Church  because  his  father  and  grandfather  had  been  so 
before  him,  and  because  he  believed  them  to  be  a  necessary 
badge  of  what  he  considered  his  patrician  descent;  he  was 
a  non-imposter,  not  because  his  reading  had  taught  him  that 
imposts  were  bad  things,  but  because  the  men  on  whom  he 
looked  down  with  contempt  were  strongly  in  favor  of  the 
measure.  The  few  deductions,  indeed,  which  he  derived 
from  reading  had  much  of  a  foreign  character,  for  his  books, 
like  the  lace  for  his  hat  and  the  frill  for  his  shirt,  his  silver 
shoe-buckles  and  his  sword,  came  from  over  the  sea. 

That  he  should  import  his  books  is  far  from  strange,  for, 
with  few  exceptions,  all  books  came  from  beyond  the  Atlantic. 
Eully  three  fourths  of  every  library  were  volumes  written  by 
English  men  of  letters,  and  published  by  English  printers. 


1784.  EFFORT  TO  REWARD  THOMAS  PAINE.  75 

No  American  writer  had  yet  appeared  whose  compositions 
possessed  more  than  an  ephemeral  interest,  or  were  deemed 
worthy  to  be  ranked  with  those  of  Goldsmith  and  Johnson, 
of  Swift  and  Gibbon.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  a  few  produc 
tions  had  come  out  during  the  revolutionary  war,  which  had 
gained  much  notoriety  for  their  authors,  and  had  been  widely 
read.  It  is  true  that  Trumbull's  "  McFingal "  went  through 
as  many  editions  when  the  population  of  the  country  was 
three  millions,  as  did  "  Evangeline  "  when  the  numbers  of 
the  people  had  swollen  to  thirty  millions.  But  the  cause  of 
the  popularity  of  "  McFingal "  and  the  cause  of  the  popu 
larity  of  "  Evangeline  "  are  very  different  indeed.  So  long  as 
the  war  lasted,  phrases,  expressions,  whole  pages  of  "  McFin 
gal,"  were  on  every  tongue ;  but  of  the  thousands  who 
laughed  over  the  first  canto  in  1775,  not  one  in  ten  read 
the  third  canto  in  1780,  and  not  one  in  a  hundred  read 
the  poem  in  1784.  Paine's  "  Crisis,"  it  is  true,  had  en 
joyed  an  equal  share  of  popularity,  and  was  still  reprinted 
and  read.  It  is  true,  also,  that  Paine's  little  pamphlet,  "  Com 
mon  Sense,"  had  gained  for  him  national  reputation  and 
national  gratitude ;  but  the  circumstances  which  called  it 
forth  had  passed  away,  and  men  were  already  beginning  to 
forget  the  great  services  he  had  rendered  to  the  cause  of 
liberty.*  Ramsay  had  not  commenced  his  history ;  Gordon's 
was  soon  to  come  out.  One  author  had  indeed  appeared,  an 
author  whose  name  has  since  become  familiar  to  three  genera- 


*  Toward  the  middle  of  the  year  1784,  a  bill  was  brought  in  by  some  members 
of  the  Virginia  house  of  deputies  to  reward  the  patriotism  and  public  services  of 
the  now  famous  author  of  "  Common  Sense  "  by  a  grant  of  land  known  as  the 
Secretary's  land,  on  the  eastern  shore,  equal  to  four  thousand  pounds  sterling. 
The  bill  was  known  to  have  the  approval  of  Washington,  and  was  warmly  sup 
ported  by  Madison ;  yet  it  was,  on  the  third  reading,  thrown  out.  His  friends 
apcain  rallied,  and  proposed  that  the  tract  should  be  sold,  and  two  thousand 
pounds  of  the  money  applied  to  the  purchase  of  an  estate  for  Mr.  Paine.  Even 
to  this  many  of  the  deputies  would  not  listen,  and,  after  a  sharp  fight,  the  bill 
was  again  rejected  by  a  single  vote.  See  the  letter  of  Washington  to  Madison, 
June  12,  1784,  and  that  of  Madison,  in  reply,  July  2,  1784.  The  bill  had  passed 
two  readings,  when  Arthur  Lee  made  some  statement  which  produced  a  sudden 
change  in  many  votes.  In  New  York  he  fared  much  better.  The  legislature,  on 
the  19th  of  April,  presented  him  with  a  farm  in  Westchester.  Packet,  May  29, 
1784. 


76  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN  1784.  CHAP.  i. 

tions  of  school-boys,  and  whose  works  have,  in  our  time,  greatly 
changed  our  written  language.  Noah  Webster,  then  a  youth 
of  f our-and-twenty,  had  lately  put  forth  his  "  American  Insti 
tute,"  the  first  of  a  splendid  series  of  spelling-books,  and  the 
forerunner  of  his  dictionary,  and  had  seen  it  introduced  into 
many  New  England  schools,  and  rapidly  displacing  the  ancient 
Dilworth.  But,  with  these  few  exceptions,  and  perhaps  as 
many  more  in  the  domain  of  theology,  no  work  had  been  pro 
duced  which  was,  seventy-five  years  later,  read  by  any  but  the 
curious.* 

There  is,  in  fact,  no  portion  of  our  literary  annals  which 
presents  a  spectacle  of  so  much  dreariness  as  the  one  hundred 
and  sixty  years  which  followed  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims. 
In  all  that  time  scarcely  any  work  of  the  imagination  was  pro 
duced  wrhich  posterity  has  not  willingly  let  die.  It  would  be 
a  hard  task  to  the  most  assiduous  compiler  to  glean  from  the 
literature  of  that  period  material  enough  to  make  what  would 
now  be  thought  a  readable  book.  A  few  poems  of  the  "  Tenth 
Muse,"  an  odd  chapter  from  the  "  Magnalia  Christi,"  a  page 
or  two  from  the  essay  on  "  The  Freedom  of  the  Will,"  some 
lyrics  of  Hopkinson,  a  satire  by  Trurnbull,  a  pamphlet  by 
Paine,  would  almost  complete  the  book,  and,  when  completed, 
it  would  not  be  a  very  large  volume,  nor  one  of  a  very  high 
order  of  merit.  It  would  not  be  worth  fifty  lines  of  "  Evange- 
line,"  nor  the  half  of  "  Thanatopsis."  The  men  whose  writ 
ings  now  form  our  national  literature,  the  men  we  are  accus 
tomed  to  revere  as  intellectual  patriarchs,  all  whose  works  have 
become  classics,  belong,  without  exception,  to  the  generation 
which  followed  the  revolution.  Irving  was  not  a  year  old 
when  peace  was  declared.  Cooper  was  born  in  the  same  year 
that  Washington  went  into  office.  Halleck,  one  year  later. 
Prescott,  in  the  year  Washington  came  out  of  office.  The 
Constitution  was  five  years  old  when  Bryant  was  born.  The 
first  year  of  the  present  century  witnessed  the  birth  of  Ban 
croft,  and,  before  another  decade  had  come  and  gone,  Emerson 


*  In  the  list  of  text-books  that  came  out  in  1784,  Morse's  American  Geog 
raphy  must  not  be  omitted.  It  was  full  of  errors,  and  received  a  scorching 
criticism  in  a  pamphlet  called  Remarks  on  the  American  Universal  Geography, 
by  J.  F.,  1793. 


1784.  LOW   STATE   OF  LITERATUKE.  77 

was  born,  and  Willis,  and  Longfellow,  and  Whittier,  and 
Holmes,  and  Hawthorne,  and  Poe.  Before  the  year  1825  was 
reached,  "  Thanatopsis  "  was  published,  Motley  was  born,  the 
"  Spy,"  the  "  Pioneer,"  and  the  "  Pilot "  were  written,  and 
Drake,  after  a  short  and  splendid  career,  carried  with  honor 
to  the  grave.  Scarcely  a  twelvemonth  went  by  unmarked  by 
the  birth  of  a  man  long  since  renowned  in  the  domain  of  let 
ters— 1783,  1789,  1790,  1791,  1794,  1795,  1796,  1800,  1803, 
1806,  1807,  1808,  1809,  1811,  1814,  such  is  the  almost  un 
broken  succession. 

It  may,  at  first  sight,  seem  strange  that,  after  so  many 
years  of  intellectual  weakness,  of  feeble  tottering,  and  of  blind 
gropings,  there  should  suddenly  have  appeared  so  great  a 
crowd  of  poets  and  novelists,  historians  and  essayists,  follow 
ing  hard  upon  the  war  for  independence.  But  the  fact  is 
merely  another  illustration  of  a  great  truth  with  which  the 
history  of  every  people  is  replete  with  examples,  the  truth 
that  periods  of  national  commotion,  disorder,  and  contention 
are  invariably  followed  by  periods  of  intellectual  activity. 
"Whatever  can  turn  the  minds  of  men  from  the  channels  in 
which  they  have  long  been  running,  and  stir  them  to  their  in 
most  depths,  has  never  yet  failed  to  produce  most  salutary 
and  lasting  results. 

The  age  of  Pericles,  of  Augustus,  of  Leo  and  Elizabeth,  of 
Louis  Quatorze,  and  the  splendors  of  the  reign  of  Ferdinand, 
are  but  so  many  instances  in  point.  The  same  is  true  of  our 
own  land.  For  the  first  time  since  white  men  began  to  in 
habit  America,  the  colonists  were  united  in  a  common  league 
against  a  common  foe.  For  seven  years  the  strife  continued. 
When  it  ended,  yet  another  seven  years  followed,  during  which 
the  fury  of  war  gave  way  to  the  rage  of  faction.  There  was 
never  a  moment  of  rest.  ~No  sooner  was  one  storm  over  than 
another  appeared  on  the  horizon.  Yet  here  again  years  of 
national  commotion  were  followed  by  years  of  great  mental 
activity  the  like  of  which  our  country  had  never  witnessed 
before.  Yet  again  were  the  evils  of  war  succeeded  by  the 
fruits  of  genius. 

Our  ancestors  were,  therefore,  in  1784,  shut  out  from  the 
only  native  authors  whose  writings  are  by  this  generation 


78  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN  1784.  CHAP.  i. 

thought  worthy  to  be  read.  They  possessed  no  poets  better 
than  Philip  Freneau  and  Timothy  D  wight.  No  novelist,  no 
dramatist,  no  really  great  historian,  had  yet  arisen.  Among 
the  living  statesmen  none  had  as  yet  produced  anything  more 
enduring  than  a  political  pamphlet  or  a  squib.  Hamilton  and 
Madison  and  Jay  had  not  begun  that  noble  series  of  essays 
which  finds  no  parallel  in  the  English  language  save  in  the 
"  Letters  of  Junius."  A  knowledge  of  German,  of  Italian,  and 
of  Spanish  was  not  considered  a  necessary  part  of  the  educa 
tion  of  a  gentleman.  Men  of  parts  and  refinement  listened  in 
astonishment  to  the  uncouth  gutturals  in  which  the  officers  of 
the  Hessian  troops  commanded  their  men  to  "  carry  arms  " 
and  to  "  right  wheel."  All,  therefore,  who  did  not  understand 
French,  and  they  made  up  the  majority  of  readers,  were  of 
necessity  compelled  to  peruse  the  works  of  English  authors,  or 
read  nothing,  or  what  was  worse  than  nothing.  They  filled 
their  library-shelves,  as  a  consequence,  with  volumes  which  are 
at  this  day  much  more  admired  than  studied.  The  incom 
parable  letters  of  Philip  Francis  to  Woodfall  were  imitated  by 
numberless  pamphleteers,  who,  over  the  signature  of  Cassius 
or  Brutus,  reviled  the  Cincinnati,  or  set  forth  most  urgent 
reasons  why  no  Tory  refugee  should  ever  again  be  allowed  to 
find  a  footing  on  American  soil.  Damsels  envious  of  distinc 
tion  as  correspondents  made  themselves  familiar  with  the  pol 
ished  diction  and  pure  English  of  the  "  Spectators  "  and  the 
"  Tatlers."  JSTor  were  they  ignorant  of  many  books  which  no 
woman  would  now,  without  a  blush,  own  to  having  read.  The 
adventures  of  Peregrine  Pickle  and  Roderic  Random  were 
as  well  known  to  the  women  of  that  generation  as  were 
those  of  Leatherstocking  to  the  women  of  the  succeeding. 
It  would,  however,  be  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  they 
read  no  novels  of  a  less  objectionable  character  than  "  Tom 
Jones  "  and  "  Tristram  Shandy."  *  The  lighter  literature  of 

*  The  favorite  novels  of  the  young  women  of  that  age  were  Victoria,  Lady  Ju 
lia  Mandeville,  and  Malvern  Dale.  A  critic  who  confessed  to  being  a  great  novel- 
reader  has  said  of  Lady  Julia  Mandeville :  "  The  stile  is  beautiful,  but  the  tale  is 
horrid."  Malvern  Dale  was,  she  thought,  "  something  like  Evelina,  though  not 
so  pretty."  Journal  of  a  Young  Lady  of  Virginia,  pp.  12,  17,  25.  Edited  by  E. 
V.  Mason.  The  Sylph  also  stood  high.  Many  others  are  advertised  in  the  Penn 
sylvania  Packet,  January  28,  1785. 


1784.  THE  COST   OF  BOOKS.  .  79 

England  had  long  been  growing  purer  and  purer.  The  re 
proach  which  from  the  time  of  Fielding  and  Smollett  had  lain 
on  the  novel  was  rapidly  passing  away.  Even  among  grave 
and  reflecting  people  the  feeling  against  all  works  of  fiction 
was  far  less  strong  that  it  had  been  when,  a  few  years  before, 
Sir  Anthony  Absolute  pronounced  the  circulating  library  to 
be  an  evergreen-tree  of  diabolical  knowledge.  "  Evelina  "  and 
"  Camilla  "  had  appeared,  had  been  read  with  admiration,  and 
had  shown  that  a  popular  novel  might  be  written  without 
an  amour  or  a  debauch.  From  letters  and  journals  still 
extant,  it  should  seem  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  few 
novels  named,  the  staple  reading  was  of  a  serious  character. 
After  years  of  patient  toil,  Gibbon  had  lately  put  forth  the 
third  volume  of  his  majestic  work ;  Robertson  had  published 
the  first  readable  history  of  America. 

The  cost  of  such  books  was  then  much  in  excess  of  what 
it  now  is,  yet  the  price,  though  high,  was  very  considerably 
less  than  they  could  have  been  published  for  at  home.*  Paper 
was  both  scarce  and  expensive.  Some  few  mills  had  recently 
been  put  up  in  Pennsylvania,  but  the  machinery  was  rude, 
the  workmen  unskilled,  the  number  of  reams  turned  out  each 
month  by  no  means  equal  to  the  demand,  and  the  quality 
of  the  paper  not  much  better  than  that  at  present  used  for 
printing  hand-bills  and  posters.  Bristol-board  seems  not  to 
have  been  made  in  the  country,  and  so  little  of  it  was  brought 
in  from  abroad  that  the  lack  of  it  was  severely  felt.  A  hun 
dred  uses  to  which  it  is  now  put  were  unknown.  No  trades 
man  notified  his  patrons,  by  a  generous  distribution  of  neatly 
printed  and  ornamented  cards,  of  the  arrival  of  a  new  stock  of 
tammies  and  everlastings  ;  the  fine  gentleman  gave  his  name, 


*  In  the  advertisement  of  Ramsay's  History  of  the  Revolution  in  South  Caro 
lina,  edition  of  1786,  it  is  stated:  "The  author  has  taken  on  himself  the  risk 
and  expense  of  the  whole  edition,  amounting  to  more  than  four  thousand  nine 
hundred  dollars."  An  abridgment  of  the  Lives  of  the  Poets,  in  twenty-five  num. 
bers,  paper  covers,  sold  for  thirty-seven  shillings  and  sixpence,  a  sum  that  would 
not  now  be  equalled  by  fifteen  dollars ;  Claypole's  History  of  Ireland  brought 
half  a  guinea.  Pennsylvania  Packet,  January  8,  1784.  Moore's  Travels  sold  at 
a  dollar  for  each  of  the  four  volumes.  Packet,  March  27,  1784.  It  may  be  ob 
served  that  the  sale  of  Ramsay's  History  was  prohibited  in  England.  See  a  poem 
on  the  subject  in  the  American  Museum  for  February,  1787. 


80  THE   STATE   OF   AMERICA  IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

not  his  card,  to  the  servant  who  courtesied  before  him  at  the 
open  door ;  the  fine  lady  sent  out  no  richly  engraved  invita 
tions  to  her  routs  and  her  feasts ;  for  such  a  purpose  playing- 
cards  were  made  to  do  duty,  for  of  these,  as  the  taste  for 
whist,  for  ombre,  and  quadrille  was  universal,  there  was  no 
stint.  The  custom,  indeed,  lingered  till  the  present  century 
had  come  in,  and  the  descendants  of  many  of  the  fashion 
able  families  of  those  days  preserve,  among  the  stately  love- 
letters  of  their  grandmothers,  queens  of  hearts  and  aces  of 
spades  on  the  back  of  which  are  printed  invitations  to  danc 
ing  assemblies  and  to  balls. 

Low  as  was  the.  state  of  letters,  that  of  the  fine  arts  was 
lower  still ;  they  were  wholly  neglected.  There  did  not  then 
exist  in  the  country  a  single  piece  of  architecture  which,  when 
tried  even  by  the  standard  of  that  day,  can  be  called  respect 
able.  Not  a  church,  not  a  public  building,  not  a  hall  has  been 
preserved  to  us  that  is  not  a  deformity  ;  here  and  there,  in  the 
great  towns,  some  merchant  prince  had  put  up  a  costly  pile, 
which  was  believed  by  his  townsmen  to  rival  in  magnificence 
the  palace-like  homes  of  the  English  aristocracy.  Such  an 
one  was  the  Walton  house,  at  New  York,  whose  spacious  rooms 
were  long  since  turned  into  emigrants'  lodgings  and  stores. 
The  home  of  Robert  Morris,  at  Philadelphia,  was  another.  It 
was  by  far  the  most  magnificent  in  the  city  ;  had  called  forth 
the  admiration  of  a  distinguished  foreigner  accustomed  to  the 
splendors  of  Paris  and  Versailles,  and  led  him  to  comment  on 
the  huge  doors  of  solid  mahogany,  on  the  hinges  of  glittering 
brass,  and  on  the  rich  display  of  porcelain.  But  these  were 
the  exception.  The  houses  which  made  up  the  towns  and 
cities  were  of  the  low-brow,  hip-roofed  order,  strung  along  the 
streets  in  disorderly  array ;  some  had  their  gable-ends  toward 
the  road,  others  stood  back  in  small  gardens  full  of  sun 
flowers  and  hollyhocks.  If  of  brick,  they  were  commonly 
smeared  with  stucco  and  defaced  with  pilasters ;  had  great 
wastes  of  wall  between  the  stories,  and  windows  which  re 
sembled  nothing  so  much  as  a  checker-board.  Their  beauty 
consisted  solely  in  spacious  rooms,  in  costly  furniture  and 
rich  hangings ;  but  among  the  hangings  a  landscape,  a  battle- 
piece,  or  an  interior,  indeed,  an  oil-painting  of  any  kind  other 


1784.  STATE   OF  THE  FINE  ARTS.  81 

than  a  portrait  by  Smybert  or  a  head  by  Copley,  was  never 
to  be  seen.  A  vague  rumor  of  a  gallery  of  pictures  that 
once  existed  in  ~New  Jersey  has  come  down  to  us.  We 
are  told  how  one  Watson,  a  Scotchman,  settled  at  Perth 
Amboy;  how  he  loaned  money,  how  he  painted  portraits, 
how  he  kept  in  a  barn,  which  he  dignified  by  the  name  of 
a  gallery,  a  few  pictures  done  in  oil ;  how,  at  his  death, 
they  passed  to  his  nephew,  how  the  nephew  took  sides  with 
the  Tories,  how  he  fled  for  his  life,  and  how  the  militia  so 
effectually  scattered  these  works  of  art  that  not  a  trace  of  one 
of  them  can  now  be  found.  But  with  that  exception,  no 
extensive  collection  was  made  for  more  than  twenty  years. 
In  truth,  at  the  close  of  the  revolution  the  country  could 
boast  neither  of  artists  nor  of  paintings.*  Of  the  men  who, 
in  after  years,  reached  a  questionable  distinction  as  painters, 
some  were  busy  with  their  tops  and  marbles,  some  were  in 
long  clothes,  and  some  had  not  been  born.  Peale  was  at  that 
time  six  years  old,  Allston  was  five,  Sully  was  one.  Of  the 
three  Americans  who  had  already  reached  distinction  in  fhe 
fine  arts,  not  one  was  in  the  country.  West  was  in  England 
daubing  canvas  with  representations  of  Cupid,  of  Death  on 
the  Pale  Horse,  and  with  scenes  drawn  from  the  writings  of 
Shakespeare,  of  Homer,  and  the  Apostles.  Gilbert  Stuart, 
who  first  saw  the  light  of  day  in  the  dingy  garret  of  a  Rhode 
Island  snuff-mill,  went  abroad  two  years  before  the  fight  at 
Lexington,  and  did  not  return  till  Washington  had  been  four 
years  president.  Copley,  too,  departed  at  the  opening  of 
the  war,  leaving  behind  him  many  excellent  portraits  of  the 
beauties  and  fine  gentlemen  of  colonial  days.  The  place  of 

*  In  a  paper,  entitled  Thoughts  on  American  Genius,  published  in  the  Ameri 
can  Museum,  for  March,  1787,  some  names  and  works  are  cited  to  "  explode 
the  European  creed  that  we  arc  infantine  in  our  acquisitions  and  savage  in 
our  manners,  because  we  are  inhabitants  of  a  new  world,  lately  occupied  by  a  race 
of  savages."  Among  artists,  the  men  of  genius  are  West,  Copley,  and  John 
Trumbull ;  Mr.  Taylor,  of  Philadelphia,  in  landscape ;  Mr.  Stuart,  of  Rhode  Island, 
and  Mr.  Brown,  of  Boston,  in  portrait-painting.  The  best  prose  writer  is  Dr. 
Ramsay,  of  South  Carolina.  The  finest  poet  is  Barlow,  whose  Vision  of  Colum 
bus  is  as  far  below  the  epics  of  Blackburn  as  the  epics  of  Blackburn  are  beneath 
the  epics  of  Homer.  Some  idea  of  the  style  of  painting  popular  at  that  day  may 
be  had  by  reading  the  list  of  paintings  that  were  drawn  as  prizes  in  Mrs.  Pine's 
lottery  at  Philadelphia,  in  1789.  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  November  25,  1789. 
VOL.  i. — 7 


82  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

these  men  was  filled  by  foreigners.  Smybert  had  long  been 
busy  in  Boston.  Pine,  now  chiefly  remembered  for  his  fine 
portrait  of  Washington,  had  just  come  over.  He  brought 
with  him  the  first  plaster  cast  of  the  "  Venus  de  Medici "  ever 
seen  in  the  United  States.  But  the  women  of  Philadelphia 
were  prudes  ;  the  statue  was  a  nude  one,  and  the  cry  of 
shame  that  went  up  was  so  strong  that  Pine  was  forced  to 
show  -it  to  his  friends  in  private.  Nor  did  this  unwholesome 
morality  soon  disappear.  Twenty-two  years  later,  when  a 
new  generation  had  grown  up,  the  exhibition  of  the  Philadel 
phia  Academy  of  Fine  Arts  was  held  in  the  Rotunda.  Among 
the  pictures  then  shown  were  fifty  casts  of  famous  statues  in 
the  Louvre  ;  but  many  of  these  were  naked,  were  pronounced 
indecent,  and  the  managers  compelled  to  set  apart  one  day  in 
each  week  for  women,  and,  on  such  days,  to  keep  the  naked 
figures  carefully  covered  up.  Nay,  more  :  in  our  own  time, 
when  the  "  Greek  Slave,"  one  of  the  few  works  of  art  of  which 
our  country  has  reason  to  be  proud,  was  shown  at  Cincinnati, 
the  world  was  edified  by  the  sight  of  a  delegation  of  distin 
guished  clergymen  sent  to  view  it,  that  Christian  people  might 
know  if  they  could  with  safety  behold  it.  Trumbull,  him 
self  an  artist,  spoke  the  truth  when  he  assured  a  young  friend 
that  it  would  be  better  for  him  to  learn  to  make  shoes  or 
to  dig  potatoes  than  to  paint  pictures  in  America.  Thirty- 
six  years  later,  a  famous  writer  in  the  Edinburgh  Review 
tauntingly  asked,  and  his  taunts  were  none  the  less  galling 
because  they  were  true  :  Who,  in  the  four  quarters  of  the 
globe,  reads  an  American  book,  or  goes  to  an  American  play, 
or  looks  at  an  American  painting  or  statue  \  What  does 
the  world  owe  to  American  physicians  or  surgeons  ?  What 
new  substances  have  their  chemists  discovered  ?  What  new 
constellations  have  their  astronomers  discerned  ?  Who  drinks 
out  of  American  glasses  ?  AVho  eats  from  American  plates  ? 
Who  wears  an  American  coat,  or  lies  down  to  sleep  in  an 
American  blanket  ?  *  The  first  quarter  of  the  present  cen- 


*  Edinburgh  Review,  1820. 

The  feelings  aroused  by  this  performance  were  quite  as  bitter  as  any  Mr. 
Dickens  awakened  by  the  American  Notes,  and  everywhere  editors  and  writers 
hastened  to  hurl  foul  scorn  at  the  Review.  Nor  did  the  resentment  soon  die 


1784.  BALTIMORE.  83 

tury  passed  away  before  a  single  painting  or  a  single  piece  of 
statuary  was  produced  which  will,  one  hundred  and  fifty  years 
from  now,  be  examined  by  our  descendants  with  pride. 

There  was,  however,  one  art,  an  art  which  is  half  a  fine 
art,  not  wholly  neglected.  It  is  true  that  in  many  parts  of  the 
community  the  theatre  was  still  proscribed.  In  Massachusetts 
it  was  held  in  abhorrence,  and  the  sharp  laws  of  earlier  times 
were  in  178J:  re-enacted.  In  New  York  and  Philadelphia  the 
stage  was  frowned  upon,  and  plays  and  players  pronounced 
immoral.  But  there  remained  many  towns  of  lesser  note 
where  the  actors  were  made  welcome  and  rich.  Such  an 
one  was  Baltimore,  for  the  city,  small  as  it  then  was,  had 
already  achieved  a  high  reputation  for  jollity.*  Market 
street  was  the  fashionable  quarter,  and  ran  out  from  the 
crowd  of  shops  and  taverns,  far  into  the  green  fields  and 
orchards  of  what  was  then  the  country,  but  is  now  covered 
with  blocks  of  houses.  The  street  was  lined  on  either  side  by 
an  endless  succession  of  low,  rambling  houses,  and  was  the 
particular  pride  of  the  citizens.  They  boasted  that  neither 
Philadelphia  nor  New  York  could  show  a  street  so  long, 
so  beautiful,  and  so  gay.  Nor  was  their  pride  altogether 
unfounded.  The  houses,  brightly  colored,  some  blue,  some 
white  and  blue,  others  yellow,  lighted  up  the  deep  shade  of 
the  locust-trees,  while  here  and  there  loomed  up  the  brick  man 
sions  of  the  rich  merchants,  with  quaint  entrances  and  great 
patches  of  wall  between  the  windows.  Along  this  highway,  too, 
in  the  cool  of  the  summer  evening,  sauntered  a  great  throng 
of  young  men  and  damsels  dressed  in  their  best  clothes, 
flirting,  jesting,  and  enjoying  the  air.  The  spectacle,  unim- 
posing  as  it  would  seem  to  a  generation  accustomed  to  much 
finer  ones,  was  still  attractive  to  strangers,  and  led  not  a  few 
of  them  to  put  down  in  their  journals  comments  on  the 
beauty  of  the  women,  on  the  gallantry  of  the  men,  and  the 
rich  display  of  brocades,  of  taffetas,  and  of  hoops. 

out,  for,  many  years  later,  there  appeared  in  the  North  American  Review  a  vigorous 
reply,  entitled,  Who  reads  an  American  Book  ?     North  American  Review,  No.  Iv. 
*See  a  lecture  on  Baltimore   Long  Ago,  by  J.  P.  Kennedy;  also,  Scharf's 
Chronicles  of    Baltimore  for  a  good   account  of   Baltimore    at  the  revolution. 
Mr.  Kennedy's  lecture  is  quoted  by  Scharf,  p.  231. 


84:  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

The  favorite  amusements  of  the  Baltimoreans  were  balls, 
routs,  and  dancing  assemblies.  But  in  the  intervals  between 
assembly  nights  the  theatre  was  the  place  of  resort.  The 
theatres  to  which  the  town  then  went  to  weep  and  applaud 
were  wanting  in  the  luxury,  the  richness  and  display  of  the 
rooms  wherein  we  are  accustomed  to  witness  the  impersona 
tions  of  Salvini  and  of  Booth.  In  the  best  of  them  the 
stage  was  narrow  and  contracted,  the  scenery  wretched  daubs, 
which  produced  little  illusion  in  the  dim  light  of  a  multi 
tude  of  oil-lamps  and  candles.  That  portion  of  the  house 
at  present  believed  to  contain  the  best  seats  was  then  known 
as  the  pit,  was  looked  upon  as  the  least  desirable,  and  nightly 
filled  with  a  rabble  more  noisy  and  obstreperous  than  is 
now  to  be  found  in  the  top  gallery  on  the  night  of  a  bene 
fit.  In  the  boxes  and  stalls  above  the  pit  were  the  seats  of 
the  better  class  and  the  aristocracy  of  the  town.  The  gal 
lery  was  taken  up  by  the  lower  classes.  As  the  fashion 
of  reserving  seats  had  not  yet  come  in,  it  was  customary 
to  send  servants  to  occupy  places  as  soon  as  the  doors  were 
thrown  open,  and  hold  them  till  their  masters  and  mis 
tresses  arrived.  It  was,  however,  announced  among  the 
notices  at  the  foot  of  the  play-bills  that  the  curtain  would 
rise  promptly  at  a  quarter  after  six  o'clock,  and  that  all  ser 
vants  were  then  expected  to  leave.  Other  notices  informed 
the  audience  that  they  were  not  to  call  upon  the  musicians  to 
play  their  favorite  airs,  that  if  they  did  not  bring  exact  change 
they  could  purchase  no  tickets,  and  that  the  managers  would 
be  greatly  obliged,  and  the  public  much  diverted,  by  the  loan 
of  any  plays  fit  to  be  brought  on  the  stage.*  Among  the 
plays  considered  as  fit  to  be  performed  were  one  or  two  of 
Sheridan's,  as  many  more  of  Shakespeare's,  and  some  of 
O'Keefe's.  But  the  taste  of  the  public  was  not  critical,  and 

*0n  some  of  the  play-bills  of  1784,  and  earlier,  are  notices  as  follows:  "Any 
Gentlemen  possessed  of  good  Farces,  and  will  lend  or  dispose  of  them  to  the 
Managers,  will  greatly  oblige  them."  "  Some  Tunes  having  been  called  for  by 
Persons  in  the  Gallery  which  have  given  Offence  to  others,  the  Managers  have 
resolved  that  no  Music  will  be  played  but  such  as  they  shall  order  the  Day  before 
the  Representation."  "  Children  in  Laps  will  not  be  admitted."  Scharf a 
Chronicles  of  Baltimore.  See,  also,  the  play-bills  printed  in  the  Philadelphia 
papers  of  1790-1796. 


1784.  OPPOSITION   TO   THE   THEATRE.  85 

none  called  forth  such  rounds  of  applause  as  "  Love  in  a  Vil 
lage  "  and  "  Miss  in  her  Teens."  The  price  of  admission  to 
the  boxes  was  commonly  one  dollar,  to  the  pit  five  shillings, 
to  the  gallery  niiiepence.  This  sum  placed  the  luxury  of  a 
night  at  the  theatre  within  the  means  of  the  poorest  classes. 
Every  night  the  playhouse  was  open,  wrhich  rarely  was  more 
than  thrice  in  a  week,  the  gallery  was  crowded  with  appren 
tices,  with  shopkeepers,  and  with  tradesmen.  But  on  no 
occasion  was  the  press  so  great,  and  the  audience  so  jolly,  as  on 
an  evening  when  it  was  expected  that  Harlequin  would  bound 
through  hogsheads  of  fire  and  chests  of  drawers.  Then  the 
mob  was  wild  with  delight.  They  would  call  upon  the  fid 
dlers  to  play  their  favorite  tunes,  not  always  the  most  select, 
would  sing  snatches  of  lewd  songs,  would  make  coarse  jokes, 
would  shout  to  the  people  in  the  boxes,  jeer  one  actor  and 
applaud  another,  and,  when  Columbine  was  hard  pressed,  call 
upon  Harlequin  to  come  to  her  relief. 

From  such  spectacles  as  these,  however,  a  large  part  of 
the  community  kept  aloof.  Some  pronounced  them  to  be 
immoral,  others  denounced  them  as  a  piece  of  foolish  and 
wicked  extravagance.  The  country,  they  declared,  was  surely 
going  to  be  ruined  by  the  taste  for  expensive  luxuries  that 
was  coming  in.  The  times  were  full  of  signs.  Coaches 
were  becoming  more  and  more  common  in  the  great  towns. 
Shops  were  springing  up  filled  with  all  manner  of  finery 
brought  from  beyond  the  sea.  Damsels  whose  mothers 
had  been  content  to  wear  homespun  were  quite  unhappy  un 
less  they  were  tricked  out  in  brocades,  in  taffetas,  in  Rohan 
hats.  Young  men  now  thought  it  becoming  to  scoff  at  sacred 
things,  and  frequented  the  playhouse  much  more  than  they 
did  the  church.  A  stop  should  be  put  to  this,  and  as  the 
theatre  was  the  newest  evil,  it  was  quite  fitting  to  begin  the 
attack  there.  Some  earnest  moralists  accordingly  took  up 
the  matter.  The  discussion  grew  warmer  and  warmer,  till 
in  a  little  while  the  community  was  divided  between  the 
defenders  and  the  detractors  of  the  stage.  All  kinds  of 
grounds  were  taken,  and  all  manner  of  arguments  advanced. 
Indeed,  the  whole  range  of  history,  ancient  and  modern,  was 
ransacked  for  instances  to  prove  that  plays  and  shows  had 


86  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN  1784.  CHAP.  i. 

been  made  use  of  by  tyrants  as  engines  to  destroy  liberty; 
that  they  had  been  employed  by  virtuous  rulers  to  promote 
liberty  ;  that  they  were  purely  monarchical  institutions  ;  that 
they  were  eminently  republican  institutions ;  that  they  fos 
tered  vice ;  that  they  taught  morality. 

The  dispute  began  at  Philadelphia,  and  for  several  months 
the  good  points  and  the  bad  points  of  the  theatre  were  sharply 
debated  by  several  individuals  under  the  names  of  Janus, 
Thespis,  and  Philo-Thespis.*  Nothing  came  of  the  dispute, 
however,  till  in  the  following  year  it  broke  out  in  New  York. 
Some  champion  of  the  good  cause  published,  about  the  mid 
dle  of  September,  1785,  an  address  to  the  citizens  of  New 
York.  A  new  species  of  luxury  and  dissipation  had,  he  said, 
lately  come  among  them,  and  was  making  ground  so  rapidly 
as  to  give  much  cause  for  alarm.  It  was  really  true  then  that 
the  measure  of  folly,  of  extravagance,  and  of  pride  was  not 
yet  full ;  and  to  fill  it  to  overflowing  the  theatre  must  needs  be 
set  up  in  their  midst.  It  was  well,  in  such  matters,  to  listen 
with  attention  to  the  warning  voice  of  great  moralists  who 
knew  whereof  they  spoke.  Montesquieu  had  truly  said  that 
morality  was  the  principle  of  republican  government,  and  on 
this  it  would  be  an  easy  matter  to  prove  that  the  playhouses 
were,  in  a  political  view,  a  pest.  They  would,  beyond  anything 
else,  undermine  the  glorious  fabric  the  sons  of  America  had 
been  rearing,  and  prepare  the  way  for  anarchy  and  monarchy. 
But  the  political  was  not  the  only  view.  Looking  at  the 
matter  from  a  financial  point,  dramas  were  equally  ruinous 
to  the  good  of  the  community.  There  was  a  time  for  every 
thing,  and  this  was  no  time  for  gayety,  for  jollity,  and  for 
plays.  Think  for  a  moment  on  the  situation.  They  were 
just  emerging  from  the  horrors  of  a  protracted  war.  They 
were  beginning  as  a  new  people.  They  were  too  poor  to  sup 
port  an  army,  though  the  enemy  was  still  on  the  frontier ;  or  a 
navy,  though  they  stood  exposed  to  the  depredations  of  the 
whole  world.  It  was  stark  madness  in  such  a  situation  to 
waste  their  money  on  a  set  of  British  players  with  their  Har 
lequin  trumpery.  Yet  a  little  while  and  these  men  would 

*See  The  Freeman's  Journal  for  February  11,  18,  25,  and  March  3,  10,  24, 

1784. 


1784.  OPPOSITION  TO   THE   THEATRE.  87 

squeeze  a  rich  spoil  in  hard  cash  out  of  their  dupes.  Nay, 
more :  they  would  perchance,  if  suffered  to  go  on,  soon  teach 
their  hearers  to  laugh  at  the  exertions  of  those  hardy  spirits 
to  whose  efforts,  under  God,  it  was  due  that  every  American 
had  a  house  to  sit  in  without  a  British  bayonet  at  his  throat. 
Why  did  they  seek  to  hide  the  true  character  of  their  per 
formances  under  innocent  names  ?  The  paltry  titles  of  Moral 
Lecture,  Serious  Lecture,  and  the  like,  were  at  best  but  a 
trifling  preface  to  the  theatre.  It  was  time  the  magistrates 
took  up  the  matter ;  but  if  they  did  not,  a  party  could  easily 
be  got  together  to  lay  the  playhouse  in  the  dust.* 

Attacks  like  this  were  not  suffered  to  pass  unnoticed. 
They  found  so  much  approval,  and  seemed  so  important,  that 
grave  answers  were  put  forth,  in  which  all  the  merits  of  a 
good  play  were  illustrated  and  defended  by  scraps  of  Latin 
from  the  early  philosophers,  and  such  bits  of  history  as  were 
familiar  to  men  fresh  from  the  high-schools  and  colleges. 
Plays,  it  was  said,  were  by  no  means  new  and  untried  things. 
All  well-regulated  states  had,  in  earlier  times,  thought  it  fitting, 
both  in  a  political  and  moral  sense,  to  have  some  kind  of  show 
for  the  amusement  of  the  people.  And  what  kind  of  show 
had  been  so  much  a  favorite  as  well-acted  dramas?  Every 
man  who  knew  anything  of  the  history  of  Greece  knew  at 
what  enormous  expense  the  men  of  Athens  kept  up  their 
theatre,  what  pains  they  were  at  to  secure  the  finest  actors, 
how  often  they  made  their  favorite  poets  guardians  of  their 
liberties,  or  sent  them  forth  to  govern  provinces  and  command 
armies.  And  was  there  ever  a  people  so  jealous  of  their  lib 
erties  as  the  Athenians  ?  Was  there  ever  a  people  who  knew 
so  well  that  corruption  and  debauchery  are  the  greatest  foes 
of  liberty,  and  that  the  freedom  of  the  theatre  is,  next  to  the 
freedom  of  the  senate,  its  best  and  safest  foundation  ?  Socra 
tes,  whose  teachings  seemed  almost  Christian,  delighted  to 
assist  Euripides  in  his  compositions.  Solon,  the  wise  legisla 
tor,  whose  laws  had  been  the  admiration  of  seventy  genera 
tions  of  men,  was,  even  in  the  decline  of  life,  a  frequenter  of 
plays.  Plutarch  held  the  belief  that  plays  were  useful  in 
polishing  manners.  Brutus,  the  virtuous,  the  moral  Brutus, 

*New  York  Packet,  September  15,  1785. 


88  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN  1784.  CHAP.  i. 

thought  his  time  well  spent  in  journeying  from  Home  to 
Naples  to  see  a  play,  and  that,  too,  at  a  time  when  the  impe 
rial  city  was  all  tumult  and  confusion  over  Caesar's  death. 
Could  anybody  doubt  that  Mr.  Addison  had  done  great  things 
as  a  moralist  ?  Yet  Mr.  Addison  wrote  "  Cato."  Was  there 
anything  which  breathed  a  more  exalted  piety  than  the 
"  Night  Thoughts  "  ?  Yet  Doctor  Young  wrote  "  Busiris  " 
and  "  The  Revenge."  * 

To  the  arguments  about  the  high  regard  the  people  of  old 
held  for  the  theatre,  the  reply  was  made  that  he  who  read 
Greek  history  in  such  wise  read  it  ill.  It  was  quite  true  that 
the  stage  had  its  birth  at  Athens.  But  even  there  both  tragedy 
and  comedy  were  soon  abolished  by  public  will.  The  Romans, 
also,  were  not  adverse  to  plays.  But  so  cautious  were  that 
people  that  they  did  not  suffer  a  theatre  when  once  put  up  to 
stand  many  days.  How  long  was  it  before  the  theatre  of 
Scaurus,  which  cost  upward  of  a  million  sterling,  came  down  1 
As  for  the  opinions  of  Socrates  and  Solon,  they  were  set  off, 
and  more  than  set  off,  by  the  opinions  of  Seneca  and  Tertuk 
lian,  whose  writings  abounded  in  passages  condemning  such 
amusements.  Who  was  it  that  wrote  "JSTihil  est  tarn  dam- 
nosum  bonis  moribus,  quam  in  alioquo  spectaculo  desidere. 
Tune  enim  per  voluptatam  f  acilius  vitia  surrepunt "  ?  f  Much 
was  said  about  the  advantages  that  would  flow  from  a  well- 
regulated  theatre.  What  were  they  ?  Would  the  merchant 
choose  to  have  his  apprentice  learn  exactness  and  frugality  of 
the  stage  ?  Was  it  a  fact  that  men  whose  generosity  had  been 
strengthened  by  weeping  over  virtue  in  distress  made  the  best 
paymasters  ?  J  There  were,  on  the  other  hand,  a  few  evils 
which  would  perhaps  flow  from  the  boasted  well-regulated 
theatre.  It  would  promote  discontent,  it  would  create  a  taste 
for  show.  How  contemptible  and  mean  did  the  affairs  of  a 
family  seem  to  the  wife  and  daughter  of  a  mechanic  after  the 
gaudy  scenes  of  the  stage !  But,  aside  from  all  this,  the  the 
atre  was  improper  because  it  tended  to  effeminate  manners  and 
corrupt  that  virtue  which  was  the  living  principle  of  all  good 
republican  government.  Let  the  intruders  then  be  driven  out ! 

*  New  York  Packet,  October  20,  1785.  f  Ibid.,  January  23,  1786. 

\  Ibid.,  October  20,  1785. 


1784.  OPPOSITION   TO   THE   THEATBE.  89 

And  now  the  papers  began  to  abound  in  addresses  to  the 
inhabitants  of  New  York,  in  "  Thoughts  for  the  Rulers  of  the 
Free,"  *  and  the  coffee-houses  with  petitions  and  memorials. 
One  wit  went  so  far  as  to  assert,  facetiously,  that  the  name 
drama  was  derived  from  the  custom  of  always  having  a  dram 
shop  near  the  theatre,  f  Another  besought  all  good  men  not 
to  put  their  hands  to  the  petition,  then  going  the  rounds,  for 
the  suppression  of  virtue  and  morality,  as  a  counter  one  would 
shortly  be  offered  them  wherein  the  fallacy  of  every  argu 
ment  in  favor  of  the  theatre  would  be  shown,  and  the  impro 
priety  of  the  drama  clearly  set  forth.;):  A  third  remarked 
that,  while  he  had  no  fault  to  find  with  the  theatre,  he  had 
much  to  find  with  the  plays.  It  was  a  shame  that  while  the 
English  language  afforded  so  many  energetic  tragedies  abound 
ing  in  excellent  morals,  and  so  many  comedies  replete  with 
the  justest  satire,  they  were  made  to  listen  to  such  trash  as 
the  "  Genii  of  the  Rock,"  "  The  Witches,"  "  Harlequin  in  the 
Moon,"  and  a  thousand  other  pantomimic  mummeries  at  which 
common-sense  stood  aghast.  The  paltry  farces  in  two  acts 
which  preceded  the  dumb  show  were  nothing.  The  hornpipe 
might  perhaps  have  some  meaning  to  one  who  had  studied 
the  laws  of  motion.  Let  the  actors  bring  out  good  pieces,  and 
the  clap  of  approval  would  be  heard  from  men  who  had  eman 
cipated  half  the  world.* 

In  the  midst  of  this  discussion  no  small  merriment  was 
afforded  by  the  news  which  came  down  the  river  from  Albany. 
A  party  of  strolling  players  had  lately  made  their  appearance 
in  that  staid  city,  had  obtained  permission  of  the  Mayor  to 
perform  their  parts,  and,  to  the  horror  of  the  more  sober  in 
habitants,  drew  large  crowds.  A  petition  was  soon  written, 
and  presented  with  many  signatures  to  the  Mayor.  His  Honor 
was  assured  that,  although  the  inhabitants  were  suspected  of 
rusticity  and  a  want  of  politeness,  they  had,  it  was  hoped, 
enough  common-sense  to  judge  and  declare  that  they  stood  in 
no  need  of  plays  and  play-actors  to  instruct  them  in  their  duty 
and  good  manners.  The  pressing  necessities  of  many  families, 
after  a  long  and  distressing  war,  and  the  debts  still  due  to  the 

*  New  York  Packet,  January  23,  1786.          f  Ibid.,  January  23,  1786. 
t  Ibid.,  January  16,  1786.  *  Ibid.,  October  10,  1785. 


90  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN  1784.  CHAP.  i. 

» 

public,  called  upon  them  to  ask  for  an  impartial  reconsidera 
tion  of  the  late  resolution  granting  a  license  to  the  players. 
They  would  assuredly  drain  the  people  of  much  money,  and 
instil  into  the  minds  of  the  giddy  principles  inconsistent  with 
that  virtue  which  is  the  true  basis  of  republican  liberty  and 
happiness.* 

The  inhospitality,  the  rude  manners,  and  the  parsimony 
of  the  men  at  the  head  of  the  river,  had  long  been  a  source 
of  ill  will  to  the  men  at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  The  news, 
therefore,  that  the  Albanians  were  really  spending  their  money 
on  theatrical  shows  excited  much  amusement.  Many  persons, 
it  was  said,  had  supposed  the  friends  of  the  theatre  to  be 
confined  to  New  York.  But  the  delirium  had  spread  far 
and  wide.  And,  strange  to  relate,  the  honest,  sober  Dutch 
men  of  Albany,  who  were  once  distinguished  by  industry 
and  laudable  parsimony,  were  now  wasting  their  substance  on 
shows. 

Meanwhile  a  like  discussion  was  going  on  in  Philadelphia. 
The  city  had  long  been  justly  renowned  for  the  extravagance 
of  its  people,  and  for  the  favor  with  which  they  looked  on 
every  kind  of  amusement.  Yet  there  was  in  Philadelphia  a 
respectable  party,  composed  largely  of  Quakers,  which  held  that 
the  country  had  much  more  to  fear  from  the  theatre  than  from 
the  weakness  of  Congress,  the  navigation  act,  and  the  quarrel 
some  disposition  of  the  States  put  together.  When,  therefore, 
the  bill  for  the  suppression  of  vice  and  immorality  was  under 
going  discussion  in  the  Assembly,  these  men  were  much  elated 
to  hear  that  an  attempt  was  being  made  to  tack  on  to  it  a  clause 
providing  that  whoever  should  put  up  a  theatre,  playhouse,  stage 
or  scaffold  for  tragedy,  comedy,  tragi-comedy,  farce,  prelude 
or  interlude,  should  be  heavily  fined.  It  was  proposed  by  a 
member  named  Whitehill,  and  boldly  attacked  by  that  General 
Wayne  whose  reckless,  eccentric  character  had  earned  for  him 
the  title  of  Mad  Anthony.  He  told  the  members  that  he  for 
one  hoped  they  would  not  think  of  introducing  into  the  bill  a 
clause  for  the  suppression  of  the  theatre ;  for  a  well-regu 
lated  theatre  was  everywhere  acknowledged  to  improve  mor 
als,  to  polish  manners,  and  to  teach  virtue.  Should  one  be 

*  New  York  Packet,  December  26,  1785. 


1784.  OPPOSITION   TO   THE   THEATRE.  91 

set  up  in  their  midst,  this  would  undoubtedly  be  the  result. 
For  an  illustration  they  had  but  to  look  to  Paris.  To  this 
Dr.  Logan  objected.  The  government  under  which  it  was 
their  happiness  to  live  was  a  republican  government.  France 
was  an  absolute  monarchy,  and  no  argument  drawn  from  an 
absolute  monarchy  could  apply  to  a  republic.  Nobody  liked 
to  see  a  well-acted  tragedy  better  than  he  did.  Yet  he  was 
clearly  of  the  opinion  that  theatres  were  suited  to  monarchies 
and  despotic  governments.  Look  at  the  Genevese.  They 
abolished  theatres ;  and  immediately  the  King  of  France  and 
Sardinia,  who  had  long  sought  to  enslave  them,  attempted  to 
set  up  one  in  their  midst.  In  this  he  failed  ;  but  he  did  suc 
ceed  in  building  a  playhouse  within  two  or  three  miles  of 
their  very  gates.  Look  at  Paris.  Did  they  not  have  soldiers 
with  fixed  bayonets  in  the  theatres  to  keep  down  riot  and 
tumult  ?  When  the  doctor  had  finished,  General  Wayne  re 
minded  the  House  that  the  whole  city  was  desirous  to  have 
Congress  return,  and  told  them  that  he  was  fully  borne  out  in 
saying  that  a  theatre  would  be  a  great  inducement  for  that 
body  to  come  back,  as  there  were  in  it  a  number  of  young 
fellows  who  did  not  intend  to  be  debarred  so  innocent  an 
amusement.  This  was  replied  to  by  Mr.  Smiley.  The  argu 
ment  made  by  the  gentleman  from  Chester  was,  he  thought, 
no  argument  at  all.  A  theatre  would  bring  back  Congress 
because  some  young  fellows  in  that  body  were  fond  of  plays ! 
Of  all  arguments  this  surely  was  the  strongest  against  the 
theatre.  Had  the  gentleman  said  the  drama  would  be  an 
inducement  to  the  grave,  the  sober,  and  the  wise,  his  reason 
ing  would  have  had  some  weight.  But  the  Legislature  of 
Pennsylvania  did  not  intend  to  hold  out  inducements  to  the 
dissolute,  the  thoughtless,  and  the  giddy.  Mr.  Findley  de 
clared  that  he  did  not  know  what  was  meant  by  a  well-regulat 
ed  theatre.  What  should  regulate  it  ?  Government  ?  Then  it 
became  indeed  a  dangerous  tool.  The  stage,  it  was  true,  could 
be  made  the  source  of  most  rational  amusement.  But  it  was 
undeniable  that  it  was  frequently  subservient  to  licentiousness 
and  immorality.  Let  any  man  read  over  a  catalogue  of  plays. 
Let  him  look  into  the  plot  of  each  narrowly.  Ten  to  one  he 
would  find  the  denoument  in  general  to  be  the  running  away 


92  THE   STATE   OF   AMERICA   IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

with  an  only  daughter,  violating  the  chastity  of  a  friend's 
wife,  separating  a  married  pair,  or  putting  matrimony  out  of 
countenance,  to  say  nothing  of  doubles  ententes,  which,  as  suc- 
cedaneums  for  wit,  were  interspersed  through  the  scenes.  In 
England,  to  be  sure,  the  dramatic  taste  was  contradictory. 
Indelicacies  were  rigidly  excluded  from  the  new  plays.  Yet 
the  indecent  pieces  written  during  the  Augustan  age  of  that 
nation,  the  age  of  Queen  Anne,  were  played  without  any 
opposition,  and  a  Farquhar,  a  Congreve,  a  Yanbrugh,  held 
possession  of  the  stage.  "  At  present  play-writers  are  at 
liberty,  when  they  wish  to  throw  their  audiences  into  fits 
of  laughter,  to  make  a  smutty  joke,  throw  the  ladies  into  con 
fusion,  and  give  the  jessamies  a  chance  of  tittering  to  show 
their  teeth."  As  a  consequence  not  one  of  the  many  plays 
written  during  ten  years  past  had  done  more  than,  by  dint  of 
puffing  in  the  newspapers,  eke  out  for  the  writer  a  miserable 
pittance  from  a  third  night's  performance.  Sensible  of  this, 
a  Mr.  O'Keefe,  who  had  of  late  written  several  farces,  "  filled 
them  with  the  most  rank  nonsense,  which,  from  its  very  absurd 
ity,  forced  even  the  stoic  to  grin."  Mr.  Findley  then  re 
peated,  amid  roars  of  laughter,  several  selections  from  the 
pieces  of  O'Keefe.*  As  to  American  plays,  he  was  adverse  to 
censorship.  The  manners  and  morals  of  his  countrymen  were 
too  chaste  to  leave  any  reason  to  think  that  an  improper  come 
dy  would  be  written  by  one  of  them  for  perhaps  a  century  to 
come.  Robert  Morris  replied  to  this,  and  when  the  question 

*  A  couple  of  selections  from  the  works  of  O'Keefe  may  perhaps  serve  to 
illustrate  the  "  rank  nonsense  "  to  which  Mr.  Findley  referred.  The  first  is  from 
the  Castle  of  Andalusia : 

"  A  master  I  have,  and  I  am  his  man, 

Galloping  dreary  dun. 
And  he  will  get  married  as  fast  as  he  can, 

With  my  haily,  gaily  gambolarity, 
Giggling,  niggling,  galloping, 

Galloway  dreary  dun." 
The  chorus  of  another  song  is  : 

"  Ditherum  doodle,  adgety, 
Nadgety,  tragedy  rum, 
Goosterum  foodie,  fidgety, 
Nidgety,  nagety  mum, 

Goosterum  foodie." 


1784.  OPPOSITION  TO   THE   THEATRE.  93 

to  postpone  was  called,  the  noes  were  twenty-nine,  the  ayes 
were  thirty-four.* 

In  Boston  the  old  Puritanic  hatred  of  players  and  play- 
S'. houses,  though  much  weakened,  was  still  strong.  Indeed  it 
was  not  till  the  close  of  Washington's  first  administration  that 
a  company  of  players  dared  to  show  themselves  in  the  town. 
An  attempt,  it  is  true,  was  made  in  June,  1790,  to  break 
down  the  ancient  prejudice  against  the  stage,  and  a  petition 
was  sent  in  by  one  of  the  famous  American  Company  of  play 
ers  for  leave  to  open  a  theatre  under  proper  regulations.  But 
permission  was  flatly  refused.  The  town  was  much  disap 
pointed,  and  a  year  later  thirty-eight  gentlemen  signed  a  like 
petition  to  the  select-men,  begging  them  to  take  the  sense  of 
the  people  in  town-meeting.  This  prayer  was  heard.  A 
great  meeting  was  held  in  Faneuil  Hall,  the  morality  of  come 
dies  and  tragedies  discussed  in  the  usual  way,  and  when  the 
question,  "  Theatre  or  no  Theatre,"  was  put,  the  number  in 
favor  of  the  theatre  was  thought  to  be  at  least  three  to  one.f 
Such  an  expression  of  town  feeling  soon  had  its  result.  The 
matter  was  carried  to  the  General  Court,  and  a  bill  brought 
in  to  regulate  the  expense  and  prevent  the  excess  of  theatrical 
shows.  Gardiner  was  the  champion  of  the  showmen,  and  on 
the  twenty-sixth  of  January,  1792,  made  a  long  and  exhaustive 
speech.^  Yet  the  best  argument  he  could  adduce  was  the 
profit  such  things  would  bring  to  tradesmen.  The  emolument 
said  he,  that  the  masons,  the  carpenters,  the  white-smiths, 
the  wood-carvers,  and  the  painters  must  derive  from  building 
and  repairing  the  playhouse  will  be  very  great.  The  milliners, 
too,  would  not  be  forgotten.  They  would  furnish  the  silks, 
the  laces,  and  the  ducks,  while  the  rope-walkers  would  be 
called  on  to  supply  rope  to  ring  the  bells  and  gibbet  the  vil 
lains  and  traitors.  As  to  morality,  he  was  as  well  acquainted 

*  Quite  a  full  report  of  the  debate  in  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly  is  given  in 
New  York  Packets  for  December  5,  1785,  and  February  6  and  9,  1786.  Also,  in 
the  Pennsylvania  Packet,  from  which  the  New  York  report  is  copied.  For  other 
remarks  on  the  theatre,  see  Carlisle  Gazette,  February  15,  1786;  New  York 
Packet,  December  5  and  27,  1785  ;  Ibid.,  April  6  and  10,  1786. 

f  See  the  Columbian  Centinel,  October  22,  November  2,  12,  1791. 

\  See  a  pamphlet  entitled  A  Speech  in  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Repre- 
tatives,  January  26,  1792. 


94:  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  US  1784.  CHAP.  i. 

with  the  scriptures  as  any  man  who  heard  him  speak.  Yet  he 
could  recall  nothing  reflecting  on  actors.  Nay,  there  were 
many  things  in  the  Holy  Book  that  partook  of  dramatic  poetry 
and  action.  Had  not  Saint  Paul  borrowed  whole  passages 
from  the  Greek  poets  ?  The  bill  ultimately  passed  the  House 
and  the  Senate,  and  was  signed  by  the  Governor.* 

Meanwhile  a  company  of  comedians,  encouraged  by  the 
townsfolk,  began  their  season  in  an  old  stable  that  had  been 
hastily  fitted  up  for  the  purpose  in  Broad  Alley.  To  evade 
the  law  against  such  performances,  they  called  the  theatre  the 
New  Exhibition  Room,  and  the  plays  Moral  Lectures.  On  the 
sixteenth  of  August  the  room  was  opened  with  tight-rope 
dancing,  tumbling,  hornpipes,  minuets,  and  a  gallery  of  por 
traits,  f  No  interference  took  place.  The  actors  grew  more 
daring,  and  when  September  came,  announced  that  on  the 
twenty-sixth  of  the  month  "  Douglas  and  the  Poor  Soldier,"  a 
moral  lecture  in  five  parts,  would  be  presented.  But  Hancock 
was  Governor,  and  not  a  man  to  be  deceived  by  a  name  or  to 
tolerate  so  bold  an  evasion  of  the  law.  One  night  in  December, 
therefore,  while  the  company  were  playing  the  moral  lecture 
of  "  School  for  Scandal,"  and  the  play  had  gone  as  far  as  the 
end  of  the  second  act,  the  sheriff  suddenly  rushed  upon  the 
stage  and  carried  off  Sir  Peter  to  the  jail.  The  house  in  a  fit 
of  fury  denounced  the  Governor,  damned  liberty,  and  pulled 
down  and  trampled  under  foot  a  painting  of  the  Governor's 
Arms  that  hung  before  the  stage-box.;):  The  next  number  of 
the  Centinel  was  full  of  cards.  One  expressed  the  thanks  of 
Harper,  the  arrested  comedian,  for  the  sympathy  manifested  by 

*  For  the  discussion  over  the  theatre  in  Boston  see  the  Independent  Chronicle, 
November  3,  18,  and  December  1,  8,  15,  1791.  Also  a  pamphlet  by  W.  Ilali- 
burton,  called,  Effects  of  the  Stage  on  the  Manners  of  a  People  and  the  Pro 
priety  of  encouraging  and  establishing  a  Virtuous  Theatre,  Boston,  1792. 

f  Independent  Chronicle,  August  16,  1792. 

^  Some  account  of  the  disturbance  is  given  in  the  Columbian  Centinel,  De 
cember  8,  1792.  After  the  arrest  of  December  5th,  threats  were  made  of  tar 
and  feathers  and  rotten  eggs.  See  New  York  Journal,  December  19,  1792, 
and  January  2,  1793.  See,  also,  the  slightly  conflicting  accounts  given  in  Dun- 
lap's  History  of  the  American  Theatre,  vol.  i,  pp.  244-252,  and  Thomas's  Remi 
niscences  of  the  last  Sixty-five  Years,  vol.  i,  p.  28.  Thomas  says  it  was  a  portrait 
of  Hancock  the  mob  pulled  down.  The  newspapers  say  it  was  a  painting  of  the 
"Governor's  Arms." 


1784.          CONDITION  OF  THE  LABORING   CLASSES.  95 

the  audience  on  the  evening  of  his  arrest.  A  second  informed 
the  public  that,  at  the  request  of  the  select-men,  the  performance 
would  be  discontinued  for  a  while.*  A  third,  it  was  pretended, 
came  from  the  tavern-keepers,  and  stated,  amid  a  profusion  of 
thanks,  that  since  the  theatre  had  been  stopped  the  tap-rooms 
had  been  crowded,  that  the  tapsters  no  longer  slept  over  the 
empty  pots,  and  that  the  cry  of  "  Coining,  sirs,  coming,  sirs," 
was  nightly  heard  on  every  side.f 

The  desire  of  the  select-men  to  have  the  plays  cease  for  a 
while  was  the  result  of  well-founded  alarm.  On  the  Friday 
after  the  arrest  an  angry  discussion  took  place  in  the  Apollo, 
and  threats  of  tearing  down  the  theatre  were  made  openly. 
This  so  impressed  a  few  sailors  who  were  present,  that  they 
collected  a  mob  and  went  that  night  to  Hancock's  house  and 
asked  for  leave  to  pull  the  building  to  the  ground.  The 
Governor  forbade  it,  scolded  them  mildly,  and  sent  the  crowd 
home.J  But  the  papers  flatly  accused  him  of  having  gathered 
the  mob  himself.* 

When  the  trial  of  Harper  came  on  the  arrest  was  declared 
illegal,  for,  by  a  strange  oversight,  the  complaint  had  not  been 
sworn  to,  and  the  warrant  was,  therefore,  void  by  the  four 
teenth  article  of  the  Declaration  of  Rights.  Nothing  more 
was  heard  of  the  matter.)  The  plays  were  soon  resumed, 
and  a  year  later  the  first  theatre  was  put  up.  A  stock  com 
pany  built  it.  The  shares  were  one  hundred  and  twenty 
in  number,  and  fifty  pounds  sterling  apiece.  Yet  when  the 
books  were  opened  for  subscription  all  were  taken  in  a  few 
minutes.A 

To  know  something  of  that  great  class  of  the  community 
whose  republican  principles  and  good  morals  could  not,  it  was 
feared,  withstand  the  corrupting  influence  of  the  playhouse, 
would  indeed  be  most  interesting.  Yet  it  is,  unfortunately, 
precisely  the  class  concerning  which  our  information  is  most 


*  Columbian  Ccntinel,  December  8,  1792.         f  Ibid.,  December  15,  1792. 
\  Boston  Gazette,  December  24,  1792. 

*  Columbian  Centinel,  December  22,  1792. 

|  A  town  meeting  was  held  on  the  matter  of  the  theatre,  December  21,  1792, 
and  instructions  to  the  delegates  in  General  Court  adopted,  December  27,  1792. 
See  Independent  Chronicle,  December  27,  1792. 

A  Gazette  of  the  United  States,  April  24, 1793. 


96  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA   IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

imperfect.  There  can,  however,  be  no  doubt  that  a  wonderful 
amelioration  has  taken  place  since  that  day  in  the  condition  of 
the  poor.  Their  houses  were  meaner,  their  food  was  coarser, 
their  clothing  was  of  commoner  stuff,  their  wages  were,  de 
spite  the  depreciation  that  has  gone  on  in  the  value  of  money, 
lower  by  one  half  than  at  present.  A  man  who  performed 
what  would  now  be  called  unskilled  labor,  who  sawed  wood, 
who  dug  ditches,  who  mended  the  roads,  who  mixed  mortar, 
who  carried  boards  to  the  carpenter  and  bricks  to  the  mason, 
or  helped  to  cut  hay  in  'the  harvest-time,  usually  received  as 
the  fruit  of  his  daily  toil  two  shillings.  Sometimes  when  the 
laborers  were  few  he  was  paid  more,  and  became  the  envy  of 
his  fellows  if,  at  the  end  of  a  week,  he  took  home  to  his  fam 
ily  fifteen  shillings,  a  sum  now  greatly  exceeded  by  four  dol 
lars.  Yet  all  authorities  agree  that  in  1784  the  hire  of  work 
men  was  twice  as  great  as  in  1774.* 

On  such  a  pittance  it  wras  only  by  the  strictest  economy 
that  a  mechanic  kept  his  children  from  starvation  arid  himself 
from  jail.  In  the  low  and  dingy  rooms  which  he  called  his 
home  were  wanting  many  articles  of  adornment  and  of  use  now 
to  be  found  in  the  dwellings  of  the  poorest  of  his  class.  Sand 
sprinkled  on  the  floor  did  duty  as  a  carpet.  There  was  no 
glass  on  his  table,  there  was  no  china  in  his  cupboard,  there 
were  no  prints  on  his  wall.  "What  a  stove  was  he  did  not 
know,  coal  he  had  never  seen,  matches  he  had  never  heard  of. 
Over  a  fire  of  fragments  of  boxes  and  barrels,  which  he  lit 
with  the  sparks  struck  from  a  flint,  or  with  live  coals  brought 
from  a  neighbor's  hearth,  his  wife  cooked  up  a  rude  meal  and 
served  it  in  pewter  dishes.  He  rarely  tasted  fresh  meat  as 
often  as  once  in  a  week,  and  paid  for  it  a  much  higher  price 
than  his  posterity.  Everything,  indeed,  which  ranked  as  a 
staple  of  life  was  very  costly.  Corn  stood  at  three  shillings 
the  bushel,  wheat  at  eight  and  sixpence,  an  assize  of  bread 
was  fourpence,  a  pound  of  salt  pork  was  tenpence.  Many 

*  "  On  an  average  forty  to  fifty  per  cent,  more  can  now  be  obtained  for  labour 
and  country  produce  than  their  current  price  was  in  1774."  A  Seventh  Essay 
on  Free  Trade  and  Finance,  January  10,  1785,  Pelatiah  Webster.  Jay  also  com 
plains  of  the  "  wages  of  mechanics  and  labourers,  which  are  very  extravagant." 
Jay  to  B.  Vaughan,  September  2,  1784. 


1784.  DRESS   OF  THE   LABORING   CLASSES.  97 

other  commodities  now  to  be  seen  on  the  tables  of  the  poor 
were  either  quite  unknown,  or  far  beyond  the  reach  of  his 
scanty  means^^ Unenviable  is  the  lot  of  that  man  who  can 
not,  in  the  height  of  the  season,  when  the  wharfs  and  mar 
kets  are  heaped  with  baskets  and  crates  of  fruit,  spare  three 
cents  for  a  pound  of  grapes  or  five  cents  for  as  many  peaches, 
or,  when  Sunday  comes  round,  indulge  his  family  with  water 
melons  or  cantaloupes.*  One  hundred  years  ago  the  wretched 
fox-grape  was  the  only  kind  that  found  its  way  to  market,  and 
was  the  luxury  of  the  rich.  Among  the  fruits  and  vegeta 
bles  of  which  no  one  had  then  even  heard  are  cantaloupes, 
many  varieties  of  peaches  and  pears,  tomatoes  and  rhubarb, 
sweet  eorn,  the  cauliflower,  the  egg-plant,  head  lettuce,  and 
okra.  On  the  window-benches  of  every  tenement-house  may 
be  seen  growing  geraniums  and  verbenas,  flowers  not  known 
a  century  ago.  In  truth,  the  best-kept  gardens  were  then 
rank  with  hollyhocks  and  sunflowers,  roses  and  snowballs, 
lilacs,  pinks,  tulips,  and,  above  all,  the  Jerusalem  cherry,  a 
plant  once  much  admired,  but  now  scarcely  seen. 

If  the  food  of  an  artisan  would  now  be  thought  coarse,  his 
clothes  would  be  thought  abominable.  A  pair  of  yellow  buck 
skin  or  leathern  breeches,  a  checked  shirt,  a  red  flannel  jacket, 
a  rusty  felt  hat  cocked  up  at  the  corners,  shoes  of  neat's-skin 
set  ofi:  with  huge  buckles  of  brass,  and  a  leathern  apron,  com 
prised  his  scanty  wardrobe.  The  leather  he  smeared  with 
grease  to  keep  it  soft  and  flexible.  His  sons  followed  in  his 
footsteps,  or  were  apprenticed  to  neighboring  tradesmen. 
His  daughter  went  out  to  service.  She  performed,  indeed, 
all  the  duties  at  present  exacted  from  women  of  her  class ; 
but  with  them  were  coupled  many  others  rendered  useless 
by  the  great  improvement  that  has  since  taken  place  in  the 
conveniences  of  life.  She  mended  the  clothes,  she  did  up 
the  ruffs,  she  ran  on  errands  from  one  end  of  the  town  to  the 
other,  she  milked  the  cows,  made  the  butter,  walked  ten 
blocks  for  a  pail  of  water,  spun  flax  for  the  family  linen,  and, 
when  the  year  was  up,  received  ten  pounds  for  her  wages. 
Yet,  small  as  was  her  pay,  she  had,  before  bestowing  herself 

*  Cantaloupe-seed  was  first  brought  over  from  Tripoli  by  Colonel  James  Barren. 
To  the  French  immigrants  we  owe  the  artichoke  and  okra. 
VOL.  i. — 8 


98  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN   1784.  CHAP.  i. 

in  marriage  on  the  footman  or  the  gardener,  laid  away  in  her 
stocking  enough  guineas  and  joes  to  buy  a  few  chairs,  a  table, 
and  a  bed. 

But  there  is  one  other  change  which  has,  it  must  be  ad 
mitted,  done  far  more  to  increase  the  physical  comforts  of  the 
poorest  class  than  better  food,  higher  wages,  finer  clothes. 
Men  are  no  longer  imprisoned  for  debt.  JSTo  crime  known  to 
the  law  brought  so  many  to  the  jails  and  prisons  as  the  crime 
of  debt,  and  the  class  most  likely  to  get  into  debt  was  the 
most  defenceless  and  dependent,  the  great  body  of  servants, 
of  artisans,  and  of  laborers,  those,  in  short,  who  depended  on 
their  daily  wages  for  their  daily  bread.  One  hundred  years 
ago  the  laborer  who  fell  from  a  scaffold  or  lay  sick  of  a 
fever  was  sure  to  be  seized  by  the  sheriff  the  moment  he  re 
covered,  and  be  carried  to  jail  for  the  bill  of  a  few  dollars 
which  had  been  run  up  during  his  illness  at  the  huckster's  or 
the  tavern. 

It  is  pleasing  to  reflect  that  while  our  countrymen  have 
been  making  such  astonishing  progress  in  all  that  administers 
to  the  comforts  and  conveniences  of  life,  they  have  at  the 
same  time  grown  charitable  and  humane.  There  is  indeed 
scarce  a  scrap  of  information  bearing  upon  the  subject  extant 
which  does  not  go  to  prove  beyond  question  that  the  generation 
which  witnessed  the  revolution  was  less  merciful  and  tender 
hearted  than  the  generation  which  witnessed  the  civil  war. 
Our  ancestors,  it  is  true,  put  up  a  just  cry  of  horror  at  the 
brutal  treatment  of  their  captive  countrymen  in  the  prison 
ships  and  hulks.  So  great  and  bitter  was  their  indignation, 
that  money  was  to  be  stamped  with  representations  of  the  atroci 
ties  of  which  they  complained,  that  their  descendants  to  the 
remotest  generation  might  hold  in  remembrance  the  cruelty  of 
the  British  and  the  suffering  of  the  patriots.  Yet  even  then 
the  face  of  the  land  was  dotted  with  prisons  where  deeds  of 
cruelty  were  done,  in  comparison  with  which  the  foulest  acts 
committed  in  the  hulks  sink  to  a  contemptible  insignificance. 
For  more  than  fifty  years  after  the  peace  there  was  in  Connec 
ticut  an  underground  prison  which  surpassed  in  horrors  the 
Black  Hole  of  Calcutta.  This  den,  known  as  the  Newgate 
prison,  was  in  an  old  worked-out  copper-mine  in  the  hills  near 


1784.  STATE   OF  THE  PRISONS.  99 

Granby.*  The  only  entrance  to  it  was  by  means  of  a  ladder 
down  a  shaft  which  led  to  the  caverns  under  ground.  There, 
in  little  pens  of  wood,  from  thirty  to  one  hundred  culprits 
were  immured,  their  feet  made  fast  to  iron  bars,  and  their  necks 
chained  to  beams  in  the  roof.  The  darkness  was  intense  ;  the 
caves  reeked  with  filth ;  vermin  abounded ;  water  trickled 
from  the  roof  and  oozed  from  the  sides  of  the  caverns ;  huge 
masses  of  earth  were  perpetually  falling  off.  In  the  damp 
ness  and  the  filth  the  clothing  of  the  prisoners  grew  mouldy 
and  rotted  away,  and  their  limbs  became  stiff  with  rheuma 
tism.  The  Newgate  prison  was  perhaps  the  worst  in  the 
country,  f  yet  in  every  county  were  jails  such  as  would  now 
be  thought  unfit  places  of  habitation  for  the  vilest  and  most 
loathsome  of  beasts.  At  Northampton  the  cells  were  scarce 
four  feet  high,  and  filled  with  the  noxious  gases  of  the  privy- 
vaults  through  which  they  were  supposed  to  be  ventilated. 
Light  came  in  from  two  chinks  in  the  wall.  At  the  Worcester 
prison  were  a  number  of  like  cells,  four  feet  high  by  eleven 
long,  without  a  window  or  a  chimney,  or  even  a  hole  in  the 
wall.  Not  a  ray  of  light  ever  penetrated  them.  In  other 
jails  in  Massachusetts  the  cells  were  so  small  that  the  prisoners 
were  lodged  in  hammocks  swung  one  over  the  other.  In 
Philadelphia  the  keeps  were  eighteen  feet  by  twenty  feet, 
and  so  crowded  that  at  night  each  prisoner  had  a  space  six 
feet  by  two  to  lie  down  in. 

Into  such  pits  and  dungeons  all  classes  of  offenders  of 
both  sexes  were  indiscriminately  thrust.  It  is  therefore  not 
at  all  surprising  that  they  became  seminaries  of  every  con 
ceivable  form  of  vice,  and  centres  of  the  most  disgusting  dis 
eases.  Prostitutes  plied  their  calling  openly  in  the  presence 
of  men  and  women  of  decent  station,  and  guilty  of  no  crime 
but  an  inability  to  pay  their  debts.;):  "Men  confined  as  wit- 


*  The  mines  were  known  as  the  Sinsbury,  and  the  company  that  worked  them 
chartered  in  1709,  was  the  first  incorporated  mining  company  of  any  kind  in  the 
United  States. 

f  An  interesting  account  of  the  Newgate  prison  is  to  be  found  in  a  little  tract 
entitled  A  History  of  the  Newgate  Prison,  R.  H.  Phelps,  1844. 

\  "  The  grand  jury  on  Monday  last  presented  as  a  nuisance  the  general  inter 
course  between  the  criminals  of  the  different  sexes  in»the  jail,  and  likewise  the 
indiscriminate  mixture  of  debtors  and  criminals  in  the  hall  originally  intended 


100  THE   STATE   OF  AMERICA  IN  1784.  CHAP.  i. 

nesses  were  compelled  to  mingle  with  the  forger  besmeared 
with  the  filth  of  the  pillory,  and  the  f  ornicator  streaming  with 
blood  from  the  whipping-post,  while  here  and  there  among 
the  throng  were  culprits  whose  ears  had  just  been  cropped,  or 
whose  arms,  fresh  from  the  branding-iron,  emitted  the  stench 
of  scorched  flesh.  The  entire  system  of  punishment  was  such 
as  cannot  be  contemplated  without  mingled  feelings  of  pity 
and  disgust.  Offences  to  which  a  more  merciful  generation 
has  attached  no  higher  penalty  than  imprisonment  and  fine 
stood  upon  the  statute-books  as  capital  crimes.  Modes  of  pun 
ishment  long  since  driven  from  the  prisons  with  execrations 
as  worthy  of  an  African  kraal  were  looked  upon  by  society 
with  a  profound  indifference.  The  tread-mill  was  always  going. 
The  pillory  and  the  stocks  were  never  empty.  The  shears, 
the  branding-iron,  and  the  lash  were  never  idle  for  a  day. 
In  Philadelphia  the  wheel-barrow  men  still  went  about  the 
streets  in  gangs,  or  appeared  with  huge  clogs  and  chains  hung 
to  their  necks.*  In  Delaware,  which  to  this  hour  treats  her 
citizens  with  the  degrading  scenes  of  the  whipping-post,  twenty 
crimes  were  punished  with  a  loss  of  life.  Burglary  and  rape, 
sodomy  and  witchcraft,  were  among  them.  In  Massachusetts 
ten  crimes  were  declared  by  the  General  Court  to  be  punishable 
with  death.  There  the  man  who,  in  a  fit  of  anger  or  in  a  fit 
of  drunkenness,  was  heard  cursing  and  swearing,  or  spreading 
evil  reports  of  his  neighbor,  was  first  set  in  the  stocks,  and 
then  carried  off  to  the  whipping-post  and  soundly  flogged. 
If,  however,  he  was  so  unfortunate  as  to  be  caught  in  the  arms 
of  a  prostitute,  he  was  suffered  to  escape  with  a  fine.  In 
Rhode  Island,  a  perpetual  mark  of  shame  was  for  many  offences 


for  debtors  only."  Philadelphia,  September  22,  1787.  This  report  declares  that 
"  the  prison  seems  to  them  to  be  open  as  to  a  general  intercourse  between  the  crim 
inals  of  the  different  sexes ;  and  that  there  is  not  even  the  appearance  of  decency 
with  respect  to  the  scenes  of  debauchery  that  naturally  arise  from  such  a  situa 
tion  ;  insomuch  that  it  appears  to  the  jury,  from  undoubted  information,  that  the 
gaol  has  become  a  desirable  place  for  the  more  wicked  and  polluted  of  both 
sexes."  Grand  Jury  of  the  County  of  Philadelphia  to  the  Court  of  Oyer  and  Ter- 
miner.  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  September  26,  1787. 

*  A  great  reform  in  the  Penal  Code  of  Pennsylvania  was  effected  in  1790S 
when  many  crimes  ceased  to  be  capital,  and  the  wheel-barrow  punishment  was 
abolished.  See  Journal  of  Prison  Discipline,  vol.  i,  p.  4. 


1784.  PUNISHMENT  OF  THE   CRIMINALS.  101 

judged  to  be  a  most  fitting  punishment.  There  a  counterfeiter 
was  punished  with  the  loss  of  a  piece  of  his  ear,  and  distin 
guished  from  all  other  criminals  by  a  large  C  deeply  branded 
on  his  forehead.  A  wretch  so  hardened  as  to  be  recommitted 
was  branded  on  the  arm.  Keepers  knew  no  other  mode  of 
silencing  the  ravings  of  a  madman  than  tying  him  up  by  the 
thumbs  and  flogging  him  till  he  was  too  exhausted  to  utter  a 
groan.* 

The  misery  of  the  unfortunate  creatures  cooped  up  in  the 
cells,  even  of  the  most  humanely  kept  prisons,  surpasses  in 
horror  anything  ever  recorded  in  fiction.  No  attendance  was 
provided  for  the  sick.  'No  clothes  were  distributed  to  the 
naked.  Such  a  thing  as  a  bed  was  rarely  seen,  and  this  soon 
became  so  foul  with  insects  that  the  owner  dispensed  with  it 
gladly.  Many  of  the  inmates  of  the  prisons  passed  years 
without  so  much  as  washing  themselves.  Their  hair  grew 
long.  Their  bodies  were  covered  with  scabs  and  lice,  and 
emitted  a  horrible  stench.  Their  clothing  rotted  from  their 
backs  and  exposed  their  bodies  tormented  with  all  man 
ner  of  skin  diseases  and  a  yellow  flesh  cracking  open  with 
filth.  The  death-rate  often  stood  as  high  as  sixty  in  the 
thousand.  As  if  such  torments  were  not  hard  enough  to 
bear,  others  were  added  by  the  half-maddened  prisoners. 
No  sooner  did  a  new-comer  enter  the  door  of  a  cell  than 
a  rush  was  made  for  him  by  the  inmates,  who  stripped  him 
of  his  clothing  and  let  him  stand  stark  naked  till  it  was 
redeemed  by  what  in  the  peculiar  jargon  of  the  place  was 
known  as  drink-money.  It  sometimes  happened  that  the 
prisoners  were  in  possession  of  a  carefully  preserved  blan 
ket.  Then  this  ceremony,  called  garnishing,  f  was  passed 
over  for  the  yet  more  brutal  one  of  blanketing.  In  spite 
of  prayers  and  entreaties,  the  miserable  stranger  was  bound, 
thrown  into  the  blanket,  and  tossed  till  he  was  half  dead 
and  ready  to  give  his  tormentors  every  superfluous  garment 
to  sell  for  money.  With  the  tolls  thus  exacted,  liquor  was 
bought,  a  fiendish  revel  was  held,  and,  when  bad  rum  and  bad 


*  In  Vermont  the  adulteress  still  wore  the  scarlet  letter. 

f  For  a  definition  of  garnish,  see  a  virulent  pamphlet  called  Pigott's  Politi 
cal  Dictionary,  London,  1795. 


102  THE  STATE   OF   AMERICA   IN   1784.  CHAP,  i, 

tobacco  had  done  their  work,  the  few  sober  inmates  of  the 
cell  witnessed  such  scenes  as  would  be  thought  shocking  in 
the  dance-houses  which  cluster  along  the  wharfs  of  our  great 
sea-board  towns.* 

To  a  generation  which  has  beheld  great  reforms  in  the 
statutes  of  criminal  law  and  in  the  discipline  of  prisons  and 
jails ;  to  a  generation  which  knows  but  two  crimes  worthy  of 
death,  that  against  the  life  of  the  individual,  and  that  against 
the  life  of  the  State ;  which  has  expended  fabulous  sums  in 
the  erection  of  reformatories,  asylums  and  penitentiaries, 
houses  of  correction,  houses  of  refuge,  and  houses  of  deten 
tion,  all  over  the  land ;  which  has  furnished  every  State  prison 
with  a  library,  with  a  hospital,  with  workshops,  and  with 
schools,  the  brutal  scenes  on  which  our  ancestors  looked  with 
indifference  seem  scarcely  a  reality.  Yet  it  is  well  to  recall 
them,  for  we  cannot  but  turn  from  the  contemplation  of  so 
much  misery  and  so  much  suffering  with  a  deep  sense  of 
thankfulness  that  our  lot  has  fallen  in  a  pitiful  a^e,  in  an  age 

J  O    '  o 

when  more  compassion  is  felt  for  a  galled  horse  or  a  dog  run 
over  at  a  street-crossing  than  our  great-grandfathers  felt  for  a 
woman  beaten  for  cursing  or  a  man  imprisoned  for  debt. 

*  Some  account  of  the  state  of  the  prisons  may  be  found  in  Defence  of  the 
System  of  Solitary  Confinement,  G.  W.  Smith ;  also,  North  American  Review,, 
July,  1839. 


1784.  THE   RETURN   OF   PEACE.  103 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   WEAKNESS   OF   THE   CONFEDERATION. 

WHEN  the  year  1784  opened,  the  revolution  had  been  ac 
complished.  The  preliminary  articles  had  been  signed  on  the 
thirtieth  of  November,  1782,  and  the  return  of  peace  every 
where  celebrated  with  bonfires,  with  rockets,  with  speeches, 
and  with  thanksgiving  on  the  nineteenth  of  the  following 
April,  the  eighth  anniversary  of  the  fight  at  Lexington.  The 
definitive  treaty  had  been  signed  at  Paris  on  the  third  of  Sep 
tember,  1783,  and  was  soon  to  be  ratified  by  the  United  States 
in  Congress  assembled.  The  last  remnant  of  the  British  army 
in  the  east  had  sailed  down  the  Narrows  on  the  twenty-fifth  of 
November,  a  day  which,  under  the  appellation  of  Evacuation 
Day,  was  long  held  in  grateful  remembrance  by  the  inhabit 
ants  of  New  York,  and  was,  till  a  few  years  since,  annually 
celebrated  with  fireworks  and  with  military  display.  Of  the 
continental  army  scarce  a  remnant  was  then  in  the  service  of 
the  States,  and  these  few  were  under  the  command  of  General 
Knox.  His  great  work  of  deliverance  over,  Washington  had 
resigned  his  commission,  had  gone  back  to  his  estate  on  the 
banks  of  the  Potomac,  and  was  deeply  engaged  with  plans  for 
the  improvement  of  his  plantations.  The  retirement  to  pri 
vate  life  of  the  American  Fabius,  as  the  newspapers  delighted 
to  call  him,  had  been  attended  by  many  pleasing  ceremonies, 
and  had  been  made  the  occasion  for  new  manifestations  of 
affectionate  regard  by  the  people.  The  same  day  that  wit- 
nessed  the  departure  of  Sir  Guy  Carleton  from  New  York 
also  witnessed  the  entry  into  that  city  of  the  army  of  the 
States.  Nine  days  later  Washington  bid  adieu  to  his  officers. 
About  noon  on  Thursday,  the  fourth  of  December,  the  chiefs 


104:         THE  WEAKNESS  OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

of  the  army  assembled  in  the  great  room  of  Fraunces's  Tavern, 
then  the  resort  of  merchants  and  men  of  fashion,  and  there 
Washington  joined  them.  Rarely  as  he  gave  way  to  his  emo 
tions,  he  could  not  on  that  day  get  the  mastery  of  them.  As 
he  beheld  drawn  up  before  him  the  men  who,  for  eight  long 
years,  had  shared  with  him  the  perils  and  hardships  of  the 
war,  he  was  deeply  moved.  He  filled  a  glass  from  a  decanter 
that  stood  on  the  table,  raised  it  with  a  trembling  hand,  and 
said:  "With  a  heart  full  of  love  and  gratitude  I  now  take 
leave  of  you,  and  most  devoutly  wish  your  latter  days  may  be 
as  prosperous  and  happy  as  your  former  ones  have  been  glori 
ous  and  honorable."  Then  he  drank  to  them,  and,  after  a 
pause,  said :  "  I  cannot  come  to  each  of  you  to  take  my  leave, 
but  shall  be  obliged  if  you  will  each  come  and  shake  me  by 
the  hand."  General  Knox  came  forward  first,  and  Washing 
ton  embraced  him.  The  other  officers  approached  one  by  one, 
and  silently  took  their  leave.  A  line  of  infantry  had  been 
drawn  up  extending  from  the  tavern  to  Whitehall  ferry,  where 
a  barge  was  in  waiting  to  carry  the  commander  across  the 
Hudson  to  Paulus  Hook.  Washington,  with  his  officers  fol 
lowing,  walked  down  the  line  of  soldiers  to  the  water.  The 
streets,  the  balconies,  the  windows,  were  -crowded  with  gazers. 
All  the  churches  in  the  city  sent  forth  a  joyous  din.  Arrived 
at  the  ferry,  he  entered  the  barge  in  silence,  stood  up,  took  off 
his  hat  and  waved  farewell.  Then,  as  the  boat  moved  slowly 
out  into  the  stream  amid  the  shouts  of  the  citizens,  his  com 
panions  in  arms  stood  bareheaded  on  the  shore  till  the  form 
of  their  illustrious  commander  was  lost  to  view. 

From  Paulus  Hook  he  journeyed  by  easy  stages  to  An 
napolis,  where  Congress  was  then  in  session.  The  news  of 
his  approach  was  spread  throughout  the  country  by  the  post- 
riders,  and  the  many  villages  and  towns  that  lay  along  his 
route  vied  with  each  other  in  doing  him  honor.  At  every 
step  he  was  met  by  committees  from  the  select-men,  who,  in 
addresses  full  of  allusions  to  Cincinnatus,  thanked  him  for 
the  great  things  he  had  done  for  the  country,  and  assured  him 
of  the  undying  love  and  gratitude  of  his  fellow-citizens. 
Addresses  of  congratulation  and  thanks  were  voted  by  the 
Legislatures  of  New  Jersey,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  of  Mary- 


1784.          WASHINGTON"  RESIGNS  HIS   COMMISSION.  105 

land.  The  American  Philosophical  Society  at  Philadelphia 
turned  from  the  consideration  of  learned  papers  on  Improved 
Methods  of  Quilling  a  Harpsichord,  and  Observations  on  the 
Torporific  Eel,*  to  do  homage  to  the  great  chief,  and  their 
example  was  speedily  followed  by  innumerable  religious  and 
mercantile  organizations  in  the  State. 

It  was  not  indeed  till  Friday,  the  nineteenth  of  the  month, 
that  he  reached  Annapolis.  Gates  and  Smallwood,  who  had 
served  under  him  in  the  war,  met  him,  with  many  of  the 
chief  characters  of  the  place,  a  few  miles  from  the  city  and 
escorted  him  to  town.  As  he  entered  the  streets  his  arrival 
was  made  known  to  the  citizens  by  the  discharge  of  cannon. 
On  Monday  Congress  gave  him  a  dinner  in  the  ballroom, 
where  toasts  were  drunk  to  the  United  States,  to  the  army,  to 
the  most  Christian  King,  to  the  Peace  Commissioners,  and  to 
the  virtuous  daughters  of  America.  When  night  came  the 
Stadt-house  was  lit  up,  and  a  ball  given  by  the  General  As- 
sembly.f  The  day  following  his  arrival  he  dispatched  a  letter 
to  Congress  announcing  his  wish  to  resign  his  commission,  and 
asking  that  he  might  be  informed  in  what  manner  it  would  be 
most  proper  to  tender  his  resignation,  whether  in  writing,  or 
at  a  public  audience  of  Congress.  General  Mifflin  replied 
that  it  should  be  at  a  public  audience  of  Congress,  and  ap 
pointed  noon  of  the  twenty-third  of  December,  1783,  for  the 
ceremony.  In  the  mean  time  a  committee  was  appointed  to 
make  such  preparations  as  the  occasion  seemed  to  require. 
On  the  committee  were  Jefferson,  who  sat  for  Virginia ;  Ger 
ry,  who  represented  Massachusetts ;  and  McHenry,  who  cast 
his  vote  in  the  name  of  the  State  of  Maryland. 

Long  before  the  hour  of  noon  on  the  twenty-third  the  gal 
lery  and  floor  of  the  hall  of  Congress  were  filled  with  ladies, 
with  high  functionaries  of  the  State,  and  with  many  officers 
of  the  army  and  navy.  The  members  of  the  House,  twenty 
in  number,  were  seated  and  covered  as  representatives  of  the 
sovereignty  of  the  Union.  The  gentlemen  present  were 
standing  and  uncovered.  At  noon  Washington  was  aii- 

*  Transactions  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  vol.  ii,  edition  of  1786, 
pp.  171,  183. 

f  Pennsylvania  Packet,  January  1,  1784. 


106          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

nounced,  and  escorted  by  the  Secretary  of  Congress  to  a  seat 
which  had  been  made  ready  for  him  in  front  of  the  Presi 
dent's  chair.  After  a  short  silence  General  Mifflin  informed 
him  that  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  were  pre 
pared  to  receive  his  communication.  Washington  then  arose, 
and,  with  that  dignified  composure  which  never  deserted 
him  even  when  musket-balls  and  cannon-shots  were  whistling 
around  him,  delivered  a  short  and  solemn  address,  which  of 
all  his  writings  is  most  familiar  to  the  men  of  this  generation. 
Having  returned  his  commission  into  the  hands  of  the  Presi 
dent,  that  official  thanked  him  in  the  name  of  the  people 
of  the  United  States  for  the  patriotism  with  which  he  had 
responded  to  the  call  of  his  country,  and  the  ability  with 
which  he  had  defended  her  invaded  rights.  "You  retire," 
said  he,  afrom  the  theatre  of  action  with  the  blessings  of 
your  fellow-citizens,  but  the  glory  of  your  virtues  will  not 
terminate  with  your  military  command;  it  will  continue  to 
animate  the  remotest  ages." 

The  same  evening  Washington  bid  adieu  to  Annapolis, 
and,  attended  by  the  Governor  of  Maryland  to  the  confines  of 
the  State,  made  all  speed  toward  Mount  Vernon,  which  he 
reached  on  Christmas  eve. 

But  the  outburst  of  love  and  gratitude  which  the  resigna 
tion  of  the  Coinmander-in-chief  called  forth  soon  subsided. 
The  time  for  voting  addresses  and  thanks  soon  went  by.  Let 
ters  and  eulogies  and  odes  on  his  Excellency  soon  ceased  to 
fill  the  columns  of  the  newspapers.  Matters  of  a  grave  and 
serious  nature  began  to  occupy  the  thoughts  of  the  people, 
and,  as  is  always  the  case  where  the  multitude  undertake  to 
discuss  matters  they  do  not  understand,  they  fell  into  an  ill 
humor.  The  revolution  was  at  last  accomplished.  The  evils 
it  had  removed  being  no  longer  felt,  were  speedily  forgotten. 
The  evils  it  had  brought  pressed  heavily  upon  them.  They 
could  devise  no  remedy.  They  saw  no  way  of  escape.  They 
soon  began  to  grumble,  became  sullen,  hard  to  please,  dissatis 
fied  with  themselves  and  with  everything  done  for  them.  The 
States,  differing  in  habits,  in  customs,  in  occupations,  had  been 
during  a  few  years  united  by  a  common  danger.  But  the 
danger  was  gone;  old  animosities  and  jealousies  broke  forth 


1784.  THE   REFUGEES.  107 

again  with  all  their  strength,  and  the  union  seemed  likely  to 
be  dissolved. 

In  this  state  of  public  discontent  the  House  met  at  Phila 
delphia  early  in  January,  1784.  Some  days  were  spent  in  ex 
amining  credentials  of  new  members,  and  in  waiting  for  the 
delinquents  to  come  in.  It  was  not  till  the  fourteenth  of  the 
month  that  the  definitive  treaty  was  taken  under  considera 
tion  and  duly  ratified.  Nothing  remained,  therefore,  but  to 
carry  out  the  stipulations  with  as  much  haste  as  possible.  But 
there  were  some  articles  which  the  people  had  long  before 
made  up  their  minds  never  should  be  carried  out.  While  the 
treaty  was  yet  in  course  of  preparation  the  royal  commission 
ers  had  stoutly  insisted  on  the  introduction  of  articles  provid 
ing  for  the  return  of  the  refugees  and  the  payment  of  debts 
due  to  British  subjects  at  the  opening  of  the  war.  The  com 
missioners  on  behalf  of  the  United  States,  who  well  knew  the 
tempers  of  their  countrymen,  had  at  first  firmly  stood  out  * 
against  any  such  articles.  But  some  concessions  were  after 
ward  made  by  each  party,  and  certain  stipulations  touching 
the  debts  and  the  refugees  inserted.  Adams,  who  wrote  in 
the  name  of  his  fellow-commissioners,  informed  Secretary 
Livingston  that  he  was  well  aware  that  some  of  the  States  had 
confiscated  British  debts ;  but  that,  in  his  opinion,  no  acts  of 
government  could  dissolve  obligations  resulting  from  lawful 
contracts  made  by  individuals  of  the  two  countries  before  the 
war.  It  was  true  that  some  British  creditors  were  making 
common  cause  with  the  refugees  and  other  enemies  of  inde 
pendence.  But  it  was  equally  true  that  sacrificing  private  jus 
tice  to  reasons  of  state  and  political  convenience  was  always 
an  odious  measure,  and  the  purity  of  the  reputation  of  the 
United  States  in  'this  respect  was,  in  all  the  commercial  cities 
of  Europe,  of  infinitely  more  value  than  the  money  involved. 
As  for  the  two  articles  respecting  the  Tories,  they  were  indeed 
unsatisfactory.  But  had  not  England  been  particularly  anx 
ious  to  have  the  matter  closed  up  at  the  precise  time  it  was, 
to  have  framed  them  so  nearly  in  accordance  with  the  views 

*  "  These  articles  (the  fifth  and  sixth,  respecting  refugees)  were  among  the  first 
discussed  and  the  last  agreed  to."  Letter  of  the  commissioners  to  Secretary  Liv 
ingston,  December  14,  1782. 


108          THE  WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDEKATIOK  CHAP.  n. 

of  Congress  as  they  were,  would  have  been  out  of  the  ques 
tion.  When,  too,  it  was  considered  that  nothing  could  make 
them  perfectly  consistent  both  with  American  and  British 
ideas  of  honor,  he  hoped  that  the  middle  line  adopted 
would  be  approved.*  The  middle  line  to  which  Adams 
referred  wTas  that  Congress  should  recommend  the  States 
to  make  no  more  seizures  of  the  goods  and  property  of 
men  lately  in  arms  against  the  Confederation,  and  to  put  no 
bar  in  the  way  of  the  recovery  of  such  as  had  already  been 
confiscated. 

It  was  distinctly  understood  by  each  side  that  these  were 
recommendations,  and  nothing  more  than  recommendations. 
Yet  no  sooner  were  they  made  known  than  a  shout  of  indig 
nation  and  abuse  went  up  from  all  parts  of  the  country.  The 
community  in  a  moment  was  divided,  between  three  parties.f 
The  smallest  of  the  three  was  made  up  of  the  Tories,  who  still 
hoped  for  place  and  power,  and  still  nursed  the  delusion  that 
the  past  would  be  forgotten.  Yet  they  daily  contributed  to 
keep  the  remembrance  of  it  alive  by  a  strong  and  avowed 
attachment  to  Great  Britain. 

Opposed  to  these  was  the  large  and  influential  body  of 
violent  Whigs,  who  insisted  vehemently  that  every  loyalist 
should  instantly  be  driven  from  the  States. 

A  less  numerous  and  less  violent  body  of  Whigs  consti 
tuted  the  third  party.  They  were  not  prepared  for  extreme 
measures,  and  sought  to  soften  the  rigors  of  the  laws  against 
those  who  had  been  so  misguided  as  to  support  the  wrong  side 
of  the  quarrel.  They  were  opposed  to  banishment  because  of 
the  clause  in  the  treaty;  because  if  the  royalists  were  sent 
away  they  would  settle  at  Nova  Scotia  and  destroy  the  Ameri 
can  fishery ;  because  if  suffered  to  remain  they  would  enrich 
the  country ;  and  because  they  had  no  political  influence  what- 

*  These  reasons  are  set  forth  in  the  course  of  some  remarks  on  the  preliminary 
treaty.  See  the  letter  from  the  commissioners  to  Secretary  Livingston,  December 
14,  1782.  We  are  assured  that  the  original  draft  of  the  letter  is  in  the  hand 
writing  of  Mr.  Adams.  Works  of  John  Adams,  Boston,  1853,  vol.  viii,  p.  IS, 
note. 

f  The  state  of  the  political  parties  in  1784  is  well  explained  in  a  letter  of  R. 
R.  Livingston  to  John  Jay,  at  that  time  abroad.  The  date  is  Jam\ary  25,  1784. 
See  Life  of  J.  Jay. 


1784.  STATE   OF  THE  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  109 

ever.*  At  the  same  time  these  moderate  Whigs  protested 
they  never  for  a  moment  thought  of  destroying  all  distinction 
between  refugees  and  patriots,  and  giving  the  Tories  a  hold 
upon  the  reins  of  government. 

The  loyalists  most  wisely  wrote  little.  The  discussion  was 
carried  on  by  the  two  branches  of  the  Whigs.  Scores  of  ser 
mons  were  preached, f  and  hundreds  of  pamphlets  written,  on 
the  subject.  The  columns  of  the  newspapers  were  for  many 
months  crowded  with  Letters  to  the  Refugees ;  Last  Advice  to 
the  Refugees ;  Considerations  for  the  Refugees,  that  poured 
in  upon  the  editors  from  all  sides.  J  It  was  difficult,  such  was 
the  language  held  by  some  of  the  writers,  to  understand  the 
singular  infatuation  which  led  men  of  reputed  sense  and 
judgment  to  believe  that  the  recommendation  contained  in 
the  obnoxious  fifth  and  sixth  articles  of  the  treaty  would  be 
complied  with.  It  was  simply  preposterous  to  suppose  for  a 
moment  that  they  would  be  listened  to  by  the  Legislature  of  a 
single  State  in  the  Union.  If,  on  the  one  hand,  the  men  in 
whose  behalf  the  appeal  had  been  made  were  to  be  considered 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  then,  independence  having  been 
secured,  the  people,  through  their  legislators,  had  a  perfect 
right  to  deal  with  them  as  they  saw  fit,  and  it  was  an  open 
and  gross  insult  for  Great  Britain  to  lay  down  rules  for  their 
treatment.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  refugees  were  to  be 
regarded  as  British  subjects,  then  the  insolence  of  the  recom 
mendation  could  be  equalled  only  by  its  folly  and  absurdity. 
But  the  whole  matter,  from  beginning  to  end,  was  quite  of  a 
piece  with  the  usual  stupidity  of  English  ministers.  Before 
the  war  they  had  refused  to  the  people  of  the  colonies  the 
right  of  managing  their  own  affairs.  They  had  then  pro 
ceeded  to  regulate  matters  for  them,  and  had  done  the  work 

*  See  New  York  Gazette  of  March  11,  1784.  The  reasons  given  for  the  re 
turn  of  the  refugees  are  there  stated  to  be  common  arguments.  Also,  Boston 
Gazette,  March  1,  1784. 

f  One  deserving  of  mention  is  entitled  The  Reward  of  Toryism.  A  discourse 
delivered  at  the  Tabernacle,  in  Salem,  by  Nathaniel  Whittaker,  D.  D. 

See  The  Case  and  Claim  of  an  American  Loyalist,  1783.  The  Claims  of  the 
American  Loyalist  Reviewed  and  Maintained,  178G. 

\  A  good  specimen  of  these  letters  is  A  Last  Advice  to  the  Tories  and  Refu 
gees  in  New  York.  See  New  Jersey  Gazette,  April  16,  1783. 


110          THE    WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

so  ill  that  the  colonies  were  soon  free  and  independent  States. 
Now,  in  the  very  paper  in  which  this  independence  was 
acknowledged,  England  had  the  effrontery  to  prescribe  how  , 
the  United  States  should  act  toward  American  citizens.  But  ! 
this  insolent  folly  should  be  treated  with  the  contempt  it  so 
richly  merited.  Congress  had  been  wise  in  confining  itself  to 
recommendations,  for  the  people  had  already  decided  how  to 
dispose  of  the  Tories.  What  right  had  men,  who  for  seven 
years  had  been  destroying  property,  plundering,  burning, 
killing,  inciting  Indian  massacres,  to  expect  kind  and  gentle 
treatment  at  the  hands  of  a  people  they  had  so  deeply  in 
jured  ?  Was  there  ever  a  set  of  men  so  hard  to  please  ?  For 
years  past  they  had  steadily  opposed  the  government,  had 
fought  against  it,  had  reviled  it,  had  sought  by  every  means 
in  their  power  to  overthrow  it,  and  now  they  cried  out  in 
indignation  because  they  were  not  permitted  to  live  under 
it.  If  it  were  hateful  to  them  in  the  past,  what  made  it 
acceptable  to  them  in  the  present  ?  Why,  after  fighting  for 
a  monarchical  government,  did  they  on  a  sudden  insist  on 
becoming  citizens  under  a  republican  government?  Could 
any  one  doubt  for  a  moment  that  some  deeply  meditated 
scheme  lay  at  the  bottom  of  all  this  ?  Was  it  that  they  might 
become  good  and  loyal  citizens  of  the  republic,  or  was  it  that 
they  might  the  more  effectually  destroy  its  liberties  ?  They 
had  wealth,  and  would  gladly  expend  it  in  the  acquisition  of 
power.  Many  of  them  had,  while  their  republican  neighbors 
were  starving  in  the  continental  armies,  carried  on  a  lucrative 
trade  with  England,  or  put  away  thousands  of  pounds  by 
acting  as  sutlers  and  contractors  to  the  troops  of  Clinton,  of 
Cornwallis,  and  of  Howe.  Make  them  citizens,  give  them 
the  right  to  vote,  and  in  a  few  years  the  places  of  trust  and 
influence  would  be  held  by  Tories.  Tory  Governors  and  Tory 
Legislatures  would  rule  in  every  State.  The  laws  of  which  the 
refugees  complained  would  be  repealed,  and  others  carefully 
framed  to  injure  the  patriots  enacted.  Decisions  would  be  pro 
nounced  in  the  courts  by  Tory  judges  against  Whig  petitioners, 
and  carried  into  execution  by  Tory  sheriffs  and  Tory  officers  of 
the  law.  Nor  would  they  stop  there.  They  would  confiscate 
property,  found  an  aristocracy,  levy  taxes,  and  create  a  gov- 


1784.  FLIGHT   OF  THE   REFUGEES. 

eminent  whose  tyranny  would  far  exceed  the  tyranny  of  Eng 
land.  They  would,  in  short,  undo  in  a  few  years  every 
thing  that  had  been  done  by  an  immense  expenditure  of 
treasure  and  of  blood. 

Sometimes  the  writer  assumed  the  character  of  a  grave 
and  impartial  witness,  and  cautioned  the  refugees  not  to  trust 
too  implicitly  to  the  clemency  of  a  much-abused  and  long- 
suffering  people.  They  were  assured  that  the  wisest  course 
was  to  consider  all  Americans,  wherever  found,  as  their  very 
worst  enemies.  They  were  reminded  of  the  phrase,  so  often 
in  their  mouths,  the  King  can  do  no  wrong,  and  urged  not  to 
hesitate  a  moment  to  throw  themselves  at  his  Majesty's  feet. 
Whatever  might  be  their  treatment  by  Americans,  they  would 
at  least  have  one  consolation ;  that  of  knowing  they  would  be 
rewarded  by  their  King  according  to  their  deserts.  And  their 
deserts  were  great.  They  had  done  and  suffered  much  in  de 
fence  of  his  Majesty's  rights.  Surely  a  gracious  sovereign 
would  not  forget  them  in  their  hour  of  trouble,  as  they  had 
not  forgotten  him  in  his ;  he  would  provide  for  them  most 
liberally.  Even  if  the  State  Legislatures  did  act  on  the  recom 
mendation  of  Congress,  pass  acts  of  oblivion  and  make  every 
loyalist  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  who  would  suspect 
them  of  the  baseness  of  accepting  such  offers  ?  They  would 
not,  of  course,  abjure  the  King  they  loved  so  well,  and  swear 
allegiance  to  the  government  they  had  with  so  much  diligence 
sought  to  destroy.  Some  bad  men  among  them  had  plundered 
houses,  killed  farmers,  and  done  deeds  for  which,  in  the  ex 
cited  state  of  public  feeling,  they  were  now,  as  a  class,  to  be 
held  responsible.  There. was  therefore  but  one  thing  to  do, 
and  that  was  to  be  gone  instantly.* 

Distasteful  as  such  advice  was,  many  followed  it.  Num 
bers  sought  a  refuge  in  Florida,  then  a  possession  of  Spain, 
and  founded  settlements  which  their  descendants  have  since 
raised  to  prosperous  and  beautiful  villages,  renowned  for 
groves  of  orange-trees  and  fields  of  cane.  Others  embarked 
on  the  British  ships  of  war,  and  were  carried  to  Canada  f  or 

*  New  York  Packet, 

f  For  some  account  of  their  actions  there,  see  a  letter  signed  Philo  Patria3  in 
the  Boston  Continental  Journal,  May  27,  17S4. 


112          THE   WEAKNESS  OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP,  n 

the  island  of  Bermuda  ;  a  few  turned  pirates,  obtained  a  sloop, 
and  scoured  the  waters  of  Chesapeake  bay.  *.  Many  went  to 
England,  beset  the  ministry  with  petitions  for  relief,  wearied 
the  public  with  pathetic  stories  of  the  harsh  ingratitude  with 
which  their  sufferings  had  been  requited,-)-  and  were  accused, 
with  much  show  of  reason,  by  the  Americans  of  urging  the 
severe  restrictions  which  England  began  to  lay  on  American 
commerce.  Many  more,  forgetful  of  the  rigors  of  a  northern 
climate,  where  for  week  after  week  the  mercury  never  rose 
above  ten  degrees  below  zero,  where  water  froze  while  being 
carried  from  the  well  to  the  house,  and  where  the  ground 
was  white  with  snow  for  seven  months  in  the  year,  set  out 
for  Nova  Scotia.J  On  their  arrival  at  St.  John  they  were  at 
first  coldly  received,  then  loudly  ridiculed,  and  finally  driven 
off  in  great  numbers,  to  seek  a  home  at  Passamaquoddy.  Of 
such  treatment  at  the  hands  of  those  from  whom  they  had 
expected  nothing  but  kindness  and  help  they  complained 
with  much  bitterness.  Their  sufferings  were,  they  said, 
among  Englishmen  and  English  subjects  far  greater  than 
among  the  rebels.  They  had  been  lured  thither  to  their 
destruction  by  falsehood  and  treachery.  The  King  had  gra 
ciously  bestowed  on  them,  as  good  and  true  subjects  ruined  in 
his  behalf,  what  they  were  assured  was  rich  and  fertile  land 
lying  along  the  banks  of  gently  flowing  rivers ;  and  they  were 
told  that  when  the  fields  had  been  cleared,  when  towns  had 
been  built,  when  law  had  been  established,  they  were  to 
send  delegates  to  represent  them  in  the  halls  of  the  Provin- 

*  New  York  Packet. 

f  One  of  these  inveterate  petitioners  became  so  great  a  nuisance  that  he  was 
popularly  nick-named  Crying  Billy.  He  laid  his  damages  at  seventy  thousand 
pounds  sterling.  Sir  J.  Johnston  declared  that  he  had  Ipst  three  hundred  thou 
sand  guineas.  At  this  one  of  the  English  papers  exclaimed  :  "  Are  there  any  gold 
and  silver  mines  in  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland  ?  Surely  they  will  be  wanted  to 
pay  off  these  worthy  American  sufferers.  All  funds  from  taxation  must  be  insuf 
ficient  for  such  demands,  which  already  draw  nigh  to  twelve  millions.  Surely  the 
American  States  must  be,  collectively,  exceedingly  rich  and  valuable  if  the  few 
refugees  who  fled  from  that  country  left  property  behind  them  worth  twelve  or 
fourteen  millions."  Quoted  in  the  New  York  Packet,  October  10,  1785. 

\  For  letters  urging  the  refugees  to  come  to  St.  John  and  Nova  Scotia,  see 
New  York  Gazette,  March  29,  1783,  and  American  Remembrancer,  Part  i,  1783, 
p.  307. 


1784.  THE   KEFUGEES   AT   ST.   JOHN.  113 

cial  Assembly.  Meanwhile  agents  and  surveyors,  appointed 
at  great  cost  to  the  Crown,  were  to  locate  and  lay  out  the 
farms  of  all  such  as  chose  to  accept  of  the  bounty  of  his  Ma 
jesty  ;  taxes  were  to  be  remitted  for  the  space  of  seven  years, 
and  supplies  of  provisions  doled  out  till  such  time  as  the 
earth  should  be  made  to  yield  her  increase.  Had  these  things 
been  done  ?  Far  from  it.  The  delays  of  the  well-paid  agents 
had  brought  them  to  the  brink  of  ruin.  Scarce  an  acre  had 
been  staked  out  by  the  surveyors ;  a  few  of  the  refugees  had 
indeed,  after  much  persevering,  much  worrying,  and  great 
expense,  finally  succeeded  in  having  their  claims  located. 
They  had  then  set  out  to  take  possession  of  their  estates,  only 
to  find  themselves  in  the  wildest  and  most  desolate  of  regions, 
to  which  not  a  road  led,  and  in  which  no  human  industry 
could  make  so  much  as  the  grass  to  grow.  The  donations  of 
the  King  had,  in  the  mean  time,  been  curtailed ;  and  the  sup 
ply  of  provisions  would,  in  all  likelihood,  cease  in  May.  * 

The  pitiable  condition  of  these  men  was  about  this  time 
depicted  with  much  humor  and  sarcasm  by  a  writer  in  the 
newspaper  printed  at  St.  John.f  The  industrious  husband 
man,  fraught  with  expectations  and  glowing  with  the  gratitude 
of  his  sovereign,  went  up  the  river,  it  was  said,  to  settle  on  his 
lands  with  all  convenient  speed,  and  sat  down  on  some  cleared 
spot  of  earth,  there  to  encamp  till  his  lands  were  divined  to 
him.  But  it  generally  happened  that  the  spot  so  picked  out 
was  hard  by  the  shelter  of  the  cow-house  or  the  barn  of  some 
republican,  who  speedily  made  it  known  to  him  by  advertise 
ment,  or  proclamation,  or  what  not,  that  he  must  turn  neither 
to  the  right  hand  nor  to  the  left,  but  make  straight  away  from 
the  barn  and  the  cow-house  and  abide  in  the  wilderness  till,  at 
the  pleasure  of  the  would-be  lords,  he  should  be  given  a  tract 
in  the  burned  district.  The  paper  was  read  with  delight  by 
the  Tories  of  St.  John,  and  the  town  was,  a  few  days  later, 
yet  more  diverted  by  hand-bills  which  appeared  in  every  street 
and  on  the  tables  of  every  tavern.  They  purported  to  con- 

*See  a  letter  in  the  Packet  of  December  6,  1784,  describing  the  suffering  of 
the  refugees  at  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia.  See,  also,  the  Packet  of  May  20,  1784. 

f  This  paper  will  be  found  copied  in  full  in  the  New  York  Packet,  March 
8,  1784.  It  appeared  at  St.  John  in  January. 


114:          THE   WEAKNESS   OF   THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  u. 

tain  a  number  of  "  Familiar  Questions  addressed  to  the  Loyal 
ists  at  St.  John."  "  Were  you,"  said  the  writer,  who  care 
fully  concealed  his  name,  "  were  you  sent  here  to  get  land  ? 
Did  you  get  any  ?  How  are  you  refugees  off  for  cash  :  are  you 
pretty  flush  ?  Is  it  true  that  the  refugees  up  the  river  are 
charged  twenty-five  dollars  a  ton  for  hay  ?  Do  you  know  how 
the  Hivites  and  the  Jebusites  looked  on  the  children  of  Israel 
when  they  came  to  take  possession  of  the  promised  land  ? 
Did  you  ever  hear  of  a  subaltern  going  with  a  file  of  men  and 
taking  away  the  hay  cut  by  refugees  at  Gagetown  ?  Which 
should  you  like  better ;  a  little  snug  water-lot  where  you  might 
cut  grass  and  catch  salmon,  or  a  bit  of  burned  tract  with  never 
a  road  to  it  ?  Do  you  know  that  about  four  hundred  of  you 
have  signed  to  go  to  Passamaquoddy  ? "  * 

While  the  loyalists  at  St.  John  were  being  thus  insulted 
and  reviled  by  those  who  ironically  addressed  them  as  breth 
ren,  their  companions  at  New  York  were  undergoing  a  like 
treatment.  The  wits  of  the  day  affected  to  treat  the  sudden 
and  unceremonious  departure  of  so  many  Tories  as  an  epi 
demic.  The  name  of  independence  feverf  was  fastened  upon 
it,  and  from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the  other  the  newspa 
pers  exulted  in  recording  the  numbers  who  in  New  York  and 
Philadelphia  fell  a  prey  to  it  each  week.  It  was  noted  with 
no  small  pleasure  that  a  vessel  carrying  seven  hundred  of  the 
fever-stricken  Tories  had  gone  to  pieces  off  the  New  England 
coast,  and  scarce  a  soul  been  saved  ;  that  every  week  hundreds 
of  obnoxious  faces  were  disappearing  from  the  coffee-houses 
and  inns,  and  that  the  stages  were  doing  a  brisk  business  car 
rying  loyalists  up  to  town.  The  few  that  remained  were 
termed  turn-coats,  and  it  was  facetiously  said  that  in  the  great 
towns  the  trade  of  tailoring  was  wellnigh  ruined  since  so 
many  gentlemen  of  fashion  had  become  so  economical  as  to 
turn  their  own  coats.  A  writer  in  the  Massachusetts  Gazette 
observed  that  the  patriotic  character  of  some  who  now  made 

*  New  York  Packet,  March  3,  1784.  These  Familiar  Questions  were  after 
ward  printed  on  hand-bills  and  scattered  about  New  York. 

f  New  Jersey  Gazette,  April  10,  1783.  'See,  also,  American  Remembrancer, 
Part  ii,  1783,  p.  712.  "We  hear  from  New  York  that  the  independence  fever 
rages  there  to  such  a  degree  among  the  Tories  and  refugees  that  it  carries  off 
great  numbers  of  them  weekly."  Boston,  April  15,  1783. 


1784.  IN   NEW  ENGLAND.  U5 

a  great  figure  in  promoting  conventions  all  over  the  country, 
and  of  others  who,  in  Connecticut,  were  loud  against  commu 
tation,  brought  to  his  mind  the  story  of  the  Vicar  of  Bray 
with  modern  additions.  The  additions  consisted  of  a  few 
verses  in  which  the  vicar,  after  turning  his  coat  for  King 
George,  is  made  to  turn  it  again  for  Congress,  and  assert  his 
willingness  to  die  in  its  cause.* 

The  animosity  which  fired  the  more  violent  Whigs  often 
led  them  to  absurd  extremes.  A  few  men  of  the  moderate 
branch  of  the  party  at  New  York  took  it  into  their-  heads 
on  one  occasion  to  attempt  something  for  the  benefit  of 
their  proscribed  neighbors.  To  do  anything  outright  for  the 
betterment  of  the  political  condition  of  the  unfortunates  was 
impossible.  But  it  seemed  quite  probable  that  if  restored  to 
their  old  places  in  society ;  if  the  houses  of  former  friends 
were  again  opened  to  them ;  if  their  well-known  faces  were 
once  more  seen  at  routs  and  balls,  and  they  were  suffered  to 
make  and  receive  calls,  the  detestation  felt  toward  them  would 
gradually  wear  away,  and  in  time  the  cruel  laws  inspired  by 
that  bitter  hatred  be  repealed.  To  initiate  this  laudable  plan, 
a  dancing  assembly  was  started  in  which  many  of  the  Tories 
were  invited  to  take  part.  But  the  object  of  this  piece  of 
innocent  amusement  was  quickly  discovered  and  vigorously 
attacked.  Could  it  be  possible,  the  hotheads  exclaimed,  that 
men  calling  themselves  Whigs  could  be  so  lost  to  every  degree 
of  sensibility,  so  inconsiderate  as  to  engage  in  a  measure  cruel 
in  its  nature  and  pregnant  with  dangerous  consequences  ? 
Did  they  mean  to  open  old  wounds  afresh  ?  What  were  they 
thinking  of  ?  Did  they  suppose  all  Whigs  were  pigeon-livered 
enough  to  look  tamely  on  while  a  parcel  of  miscreants,  of 
atrocious  and  obnoxious  Tories,  insulted  their  feelings  and 
wantonly  danced  on  the  graves  of  their  brave  officers  ?  This 
was  going  too  far.  Honor  and  justice  forbade  it,  and  the 
dancing  must  be  stopped,  f 

*  The  poem  was  printed  in  the  New  York  Packet  for  February  19,  1784. 

f  Pennsylvania  Packet,  January  5,  1784.  "  Time-serving  Whigs  and  trimmers  " 
were  also  accused  of  forming  a  political  coalition  with  the  Tories.  Boston  Gazette, 
February  2, 1784.  The  same  paper  declares  that  '•'  the  eyes  of  all  America  are  fixed 
on  the  New  York  patriots,  who  it  is  expected  will  act  with  their  usual  decision, 


116          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

But  the  comments  of  the  press  were  not  always  in  so  mild 
and  inoffensive  a  tone.  They  were  in  general  full  of  savage 
threats,  and  written  in  the  bombastic  language  in  which 
stump  orators  were  accustomed  at  every  election  to  address 
audiences  of  ploughboys  and  drovers,  and  which  is  even  now 
to  be  heard  on  the  twenty-second  of  every  February  and  the 
fourth  of  every  July.  The  editor  of  a  New  England  paper 
exhorted  his  readers  never  to  make  friends  with  those  fiends 
the  refugees.  "  As  Hannibal,"  said  the  writer,  "  swore  never 
to  be  at  peace  with  the  Romans,  so  let  every  Whig  swear,  by 
his  abhorrence  of  slavery,  by  liberty  and  religion,  by  the 
shades  of  departed  friends  who  have  fallen  in  battle,  by  the 
ghosts  of  those  of  our  brethren  who  have  been  destroyed  on 
board  of  prison-ships  and  in  loathsome  dungeons,  never  to  be 
at  peace  with  those  fiends,  the  refugees,  whose  thefts,  murders, 
and  treasons  have  filled  the  cup  of  woe.  .  .  ."  *  At  Worces 
ter  and  at  Stamford  the  Tories  were  forbidden  to  return.f 

Absurd  as  such  appeals  now  seem,  they  were,  it  must  be 
remembered,  but  the  timely  fruit  of  the  war,  and  their  effect 
was  very  great.  The  intense  animosity  felt  toward  the  unfor 
tunate  refugees  became  each  day  more  and  more  bitter,  and 
was  not  in  the  least  allayed  by  the  recollection  of  acts  which 
had  lately  been  done,  and  were  constantly  brought  up  as  exhib 
iting  a  lack  of  good  faith  on  the  part  of  England.  In  direct 
violation,  it  was  claimed,  of  the  seventh  article  of  the  treaty, 
great  numbers  of  negroes  had  been  carried  off  by  the  depart 
ing  troops.  Sir  Guy  Carleton  had  been  remonstrated  with 
and  called  upon  to  take  strong  measures  to  prevent  the  recur 
rence  of  such  deeds.  He  had  given  no  heed  to  the  remon 
strances,  and  had  attempted  to  justify  himself  by  excuses 
worthy  of  the  casuists.  He  knew,  he  said,  that  some  negroes 
had  been  taken  away ;  but  they  could  not  be  considered  as 
property.  He  had  found  them  freemen ;  he  could  not  reduce 
them  to  a  state  of  slavery.  On  this  plea  their  departure  was 

firmness,  and  vigor  with  respect  to  the  spaniels,  tool",  and  minions  of  Britain 
now  remaining  in  their  capital." 

*  Massachusetts  Chronicle,  May,  1783.  See,  also,  Boston  Gazette  for  October 
25,  1784,  and  April  14,  1785. 

f  American  Remembrancer,  Part  i,  1783,  pp.  264,  265;  and  Part  ii,  1783, 
T).  249. 


1784  DISPUTE   CONCERNING  THE   NEGROES.  117 

held  to  be  a  voluntary  act.  But  the  "Whigs  were  not  to  be 
blinded  by  sophistical  excuses.  It  was  denied  that  they  were 
freemen ;  the  Tories  were  accused  of  taking  them  off  by  vio 
lence,  and  payment  for  them  was  demanded  of  the  English 
Government.  The  number  taken,  undoubtedly  large,  was 
magnified  by  popular  report  to  several  thousands.  The  alarm 
was  great,  for  the  article  had  been  framed  expressly  for  the 
benefit  of  the  slave-holding  States,  and  the  most  populous  of 
the  States  were  of  this  class.  If  this  went  on,  it  was  said, 
there  was  no  telling  what  the  consequences  might  be.  Every 
slave  dissatisfied  with  his  master  had  but  to  steal  away  from 
his  cabin  on  some  stormy  night,  make  his  way  to  the  nearest 
seaport,  and  claim  the  protection  of  some  departing  Tory, 
who,  glad  to  inflict  so  severe  a  loss  upon  the  master,  would 
willingly  carry  the  servant  to  England.  The  multitude,  in 
flamed  by  such  reasoning,  and,  as  was  but  natural,  ready  to 
put  the  worst  construction  on  everything  done  by  the  Tories, 
loudly  accused  England  of  bad  faith.  The  treaty  was  held 
to  be  violated,  and  a  new  plea  thus  furnished  for  the  justifi 
cation  of  many  sharp  acts  against  the  refugees.*  Harsh  laws, 
passed  while  the  war  was  still  raging,  were,  in  many  of  the 
States,  re-enacted  or  suffered  to  remain  unchanged  on  the  stat 
ute-books,  f  But  in  New  York  the  most  severe  acts  were 
required  to  satisfy  the  angry  multitude.:): 

Of  all  the  great  cities,  New  York  had  undoubtedly  suf 
fered  most  at  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  No  other  had  been 
so  long  under  British  control.  Howe  had  been  compelled  to 
evacuate  Boston  ;  Clinton  had  been  driven  from  Philadelphia. 
But  from  the  day  when  Howe  entered  New  York  in  1776  to 
the  day  when  Carleton  sailed  out  of  its  harbor  in  1783,  the 
peaceful  possession  of  the  city  by  the  British  had  never  for  a. 
moment  been  disturbed.  It  became,  therefore,  during  .the 
war  and  after  the  peace,  a  place  of  refuge  for  the  Tories. 

*  Virginia  passed  a  resolution  that  England  had,  by  carrying  off  the  negroes, 
violated  the  treaty,  January  22,  1784. 

f  See  laws  passed  by  Massachusetts,  November,  1784. 

j  By  New  York,  July  12,  1782,  March  17,  1783,  and  May  12,  1784.  See,  also, 
Secret  Journals  of  Congress,  vol.  iv,  pp.  267,  269-274.  Sec,  also,  a  pamphlet 
entitled  A  Collection  of  Laws  Relative  to  American  Loyalists  in  Massachusetts, 
and  their  Property,  1785. 


118         THE    WEAKNESS   OF   THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

There  privateers  were  fitted  out,  and  ships  bearing  arms  and 
ammunition  to  the  armies  of  the  King  sailed  in  and  out  of 
the  spacious  harbor  with  as  much  safety  as  if  upon  the  waters 
of  the  Mersey  or  the  Thames.  The  churches  and  jail  were 
filled  with  prisoners  of  war.  The  prison-ships  Jersey  and 
Stromboli,  whose  names  our  ancestors  could  never  mention 
without  a  shudder,  lay  at  anchor  off  the  Battery  shore.  The 
Whig  citizens  were  driven  from  their  homes,  their  property 
confiscated,  their  houses  seized  and  occupied  under  military 
orders,  and  they,  penniless  and  deprived  of  every  means  of 
subsistence,  sent  across  the  Hudson  to  starve,  or  live  upon  the 
charity  of  the  Dutch  farmers  of  New  Jersey.*  When,  there 
fore,  the  day  of  retribution,  so  long  delayed,  came,  when  the 
banished,  despoiled  and  persecuted  Whigs  were  free  to  return 
and  take  vengeance  on  their  persecutors  for  the  ills  they  had 
borne  for  many  years,  they  did  so  with  the  exultant  malignity 
of  men  who,  half  maddened  by  the  desire  for  revenge,  are 
beside  themselves  with  joy  in  their  hour  of  triumph.  At  a 
time  when  the  inhabitants  of  the  New  Jersey  towns  were 
hurrying  to  sign  papers  expressing  their  willingness  to  forgive 
and  forget,  and  bidding  the  Tories  to  come  and  live  among 
them ;  f  at  a  time  when  the  committee-men  at  New  Haven 
were  writing  their  report,  and  assuring  their  fellow-townsmen 
that  no  reason  could  be  found  why  the  loyalists  should  not 
be  free  to  come  back ;  ^  that  it  was  contrary  to  good  sense, 
to  good  policy,  nay,  to  humanity,  to  deprive  of  the  rights 
of  a  citizen  any  Tory  who  had  not  carried  arms  in  the  great 
struggle,  the  inhabitants  of  New  York  were  crying  out  wild 
ly  for  vengeance.  Nothing  but  extreme  measures  would  sat 
isfy  their  thirst.  The  Legislature,  indeed,  was  scarce  assem 
bled  before  a  memorial  drawn  up  by  the  Whig  citizens  was 
brought  in.  The  signatures  were  many  in  number,  and  were 

*  The  hardships  and  suffering  of  the  Whig  refugees  in  New  Jersey  are  pleas 
antly  told  in  the  memoirs  of  Eliza  S.  M.  Quincy,  the  wife  of  Josiah  Quincy.  Mrs. 
Quincy  was  at  the  time  of  her  parents'  flight  from  the  city  a  girl  of  thirteen 
years. 

f  See  New  York  Packet  for  March  8,  1784.  Many  signatures  were  obtained 
at  New  Brunswick,  Piscataway,  Amboy,  and  neighboring  towns. 

\  See  New  York  Packet  for  March  8,  1784,  and  American  Remembrancer, 
Partiii,  1783,  p.  324. 


1784.  PETITION   FROM  THE   WHIGS.  119 

those,  not  of  demagogues,  but  of  persons  of  high  rank,  of 
stainless  character,  and  good  ability.  The  instrument  humbly 
set  forth  that  the  petitioners  had  lately  returned  to  their  na 
tive  city  to  take  possession  of  what  little  remained  to  them 
from  the  ravages  of  war.  They  were,  however,  greatly 
alarmed  and  incensed  to  find  numbers  of  the  bitterest  ene 
mies  of  the  liberty  and  independence  of  the  United  States  so 
audacious,  so  impudent,  as  to  expose  themselves  to  their  much 
injured  and  angry  countrymen.  If  these  men  were  longer 
allowed  to  go  at  large  about  the  town,  the  peace  of  the  citi 
zens  would  be  seriously  endangered,  the  harmony  essential  to 
prosperity  would  constantly  be  destroyed,  the  blessings  of 
peace  would  be  turned  into  curses,  and  there  was  much  reason 
to  fear  that  riot  and  bloodshed  would  be  of  frequent  occur 
rence.  They  firmly  believed  that  these  turn-coats,  even  while 
living  in  their  midst,  would  remain  enemies  to  independence. 
They  believed  this  to  be  so  because,  in  the  first  place,  the  rene 
gades  had,  with  inveteracy  and  uniformity,  during  the  whole 
course  of  the  dubious  struggle  for  liberty,  made  the  utmost 
efforts  against  the  country ;  because,  in  the  second  place,  they 
had,  when  the  near  prospect  of  peace  opened  to  their  view, 
manifested  their  disapprobation  in  terms  of  the  deepest  ran 
cor  and  malignity  ;  and  because,  in  the  third  place,  the  bitter 
remembrance  of  innumerable  murders,  injuries,  and  cruelties 
done  by  them  still  rankled  in  the  bosoms  of  the  citizens.  It 
was  quite  impossible  to  be  at  peace  with  creatures  of  this  stamp. 
If  the  Tories  stayed  the  Whigs  must  go,  and  it  seemed  but 
reasonable  that  the  Whigs,  who  had  suffered  so  much  and 
so  long  for  liberty,  should,  when  liberty  came,  be  permitted 
to  enjoy  all  its  blessings  in  quiet.  They  had  therefore 
watched  with  much  anxiety  the  slow  progress  of  the  Aliena 
tion  Bill,  and  deeply  regretted  that  it  had  not  yet  passed. 
Indeed,  they  earnestly  hoped  that  the  Legislature  would  at 
once  use  every  possible  means  to  pass  the  bill  into  a'  law.* 

The  statement  made  in  the  memorial  of  the  angry  feelings 
of  the  people  was,  as  the  Legislature  well  knew,  mildly  ex 
pressed.  Tories,  in  fact  Englishmen,  were  scarcely  safe;  for 
though  they  usually  behaved  with  much  sense  and  discretion, 

*  New  York  Packet,  February,  1784. 


120          THE    WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  IL 

they  were  at  times,  when  goaded  to  desperation  by  the  taunts 
and  jeers  flung  at  them  in  the  coffee-houses  and  on  the  streets, 
provoked  into  making  ill-timed  replies.  It  was  well  for  them 
if  on  such  occasions  summary  vengeance  were  not  instantly 
wreaked.  Others,  whose  talk  had  not  been  public,  were  in 
formed  that  if  they  did  not  moderate  their  language  a  watch 
man  who  had  overheard  what  was  said  would  send  their  names 
to  the  newspaper.  Should  the  newspaper  refuse  to  make 
their  names  public  after  its  fashion,  he  would  make  them 
public  after  his  fashion,  and,  as  he  went  his  rounds  at  night 

cry  out,  "  Past  ten  o'clock,  and is  a  vile  hypocrite  and 

an  enemy  of  freedom."  * 

That  he  would  have  done  so,  and  that  he  would  have  been 
loudly  praised  for  doing  so.  there  can  be  no  doubt.  The  de 
lay  of  the  Legislature  had  wearied  and  disgusted  the  people. 
It  was  true,  the  Assembly  had  been  by  no  means  backward  in 
enacting  vigorous  laws  against  the  Tories.  It  was  true  that 
the  Governors  of  the  twelve  sister  States  had  been  urged  to 
exchange  lists  of  the  proscribed  persons,  that  not  one  of  them 
might  find  a  resting-place  in  the  country.  It  was  true  that 
such  persons  had  been  disfranchised,  f  and  that  when  election 
day  came  round  no  one  suspected  of  the  slightest  tinge  of 
toryisni  could  cast  his  vote  till  he  had  first  cleared  him 
self  of  the  charge  of  hostility  to  the  government.  It  was 
true  that  the  petitions  of  such  refugees  as  were  entitled  by 
the  sixth  article  of  the  treaty  to  make  application  for  liberty 
to  return  from  exile  were  invariably  thrown  out.  It  was  true 
that  a  Trespass  Act  had  been  passed  and  an  Alienation  Bill 
brought  in ;  but  all  this  fell  far  short  of  the  demands  of  the 
people.  Every  day  the  clamor  of  the  multitude  grew  louder 
and  more  menacing.  One  day,  late  in  March,  hand-bills  were 
scattered  about  the  town,  calling  on  the  sons  of  liberty  to 
assemble  at  Tande waters,  a  noted  coifee-house  in  the  fields.^: 

The  meeting  was  a  large  one.    All  classes  were  represented, 

*New  York  Packet,  March  1,  1784. 

\  The  bill  passed  the  Legislature,  but  not  the  rerisionary  council.  It  would, 
the  council  said,  so  utterly  depopulate  whole  districts  that  there  would  not  be  men 
enough  left  in  them  to  fill  the  necessary  offices  at  election. 

*The  hand-bills  were  dated  March  25,  1784.  The  meeting  was  held  a  f  .* 
day=  later.  New  York  Packet,  April  6,  1784. 


1784.  MEETING   OF  THE  FREEHOLDERS.  121 

and  strong  language  was,  for  the  first  time,  heard  from  the 
lips  of  many  of  the  most  eminent  merchants  of  the  city.  A 
series  of  resolutions  set  forth  the  sense  of  those  present.  It 
was  impossible  that  Whigs  and  Tories  could  ever  mingle  in 
harmony;  that  they  could  not  consider  the  government  as 
completely  established  while  the  faces  of  so  many  wealthy 
and  influential  royalists  continued  to  be  seen  in  the  streets ; 
that  they  would  on  no  pretence  whatever  consent  to  live  in 
society  with  any  man  who  had  served  in  the  British  army  in 
any  capacity,  or  had  fled  to  the  city  while  in  British  hands,  or 
had  come  over  from  England  during  the  war,  and  that  they 
seriously  recommended  all  such  characters  to  remove  from 
the  city  before  the  first  of  May.  But  when  the  first  of  May 
came  the  detested  Tories  were  still  as  numerous  as  ever,  and 
continued  to  show  themselves  with  the  old  effrontery.  Then 
the  wrath  of  the  Whigs  flamed  high.  This,  then,  was  the 
return  made  to  them  for  a  most  foolish  forbearance.  They 
had  begun  by  intimating  to  the  Tories  that  it  would  be  well  to 
go  out  from  the  presence  of  the  men  they  had  so  deeply 
injured;  from  intimations  they  had  gone  on  to  hints;  from 
hints  to  plain  requests ;  from  requests  to  menaces  and  threats  ; 
but  intimations,  hints,  requests,  and  threats  were  alike  of  no 
use.  Now  their  patience  was  exhausted,  and  they  would 
resort  to  harsher  measures.  Since  the  Legislature  had  given 
little  heed  to  their  petition  on  the  Alien  Bill,  they  would 
address  that  body  in  unmistakable  language.  Accordingly, 
the  "Whig  freeholders  of  Westchester  county  assembled  and 
drew  up  instructions  to  their  representatives.  They  were 
seriously  alarmed,  so  the  instructions  ran,  that  after  so  long  a 
sitting  the  Legislature  had  seen  fit  to  take  no  means  to  re 
move  from  their  midst  the  most  obnoxious  of  those  who, 
while  the  war  was  raging,  had  deserted  friends  and  country 
and  gone  over  to  the  enemy.  Six  reasons  were  then  given 
why  the  Tories  should  no  longer  be  suffered  to  live  among 
them,  and  the  representatives  bidden  to  spare  no  pains  to 
obtain  an  act  of  discrimination.  It  might  possibly  happen 
that  the  Legislature  would  think  them  a  parcel  of  malcontents 
forming  a  very  inconsiderable  part  of  the  community.  They 
were,  in  that  event,  prepared  to  lay  before  the  Legislature  a 


122          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

most  unanswerable  argument.  They  would  go  and  present 
themselves,  to  a  man,  before  the  Assembly,  and  they  would 
pledge  their  honor  to  go  and  return  in  the  most  peaceable  and 
orderly  manner.* 

These  instructions  were  scarcely  dispatched  before  the 
Whig  Society  took  up  the  matter.  The  Whig  Society  was  a 
company  of  pleasant  gentlemen,  who,  had  they  dared  to  use 
so  obnoxious  a  term,  would  have  called  themselves  the  aris 
tocracy  of  the  city.  Among  them  were  many  of  the  soundest 
merchants,  ablest  lawyers,  and  most  skilful  physicians  New 
York  then  boasted  of.  They  were  all  stanch  AVhigs,  and  the 
few  who  had  not  been  in  the  army  had  been,  as  they  termed 
it,  in  exile,  and  often  entertained  the  assembled  company 
with  laughable  accounts  of  their  sufferings  and  adventures. 
They  met  on  stated  evenings  in  the  long  room  at  the  coffee 
house,  and  discussed,  over  bowls  of  grog,  punch,  or  sangaree, 
the  impost,  the  theatre,  the  paper-money  scheme,  the  bank, 
or  whatever  else  might  happen  to  be  occupying  the  thoughts 
of  the  people.  Often  these  meetings  had  much  the  appear 
ance  of  the  session  of  a  debating  club.  The  subject  to  be 
discussed  was  put  in  the  form  of  a  question,  a  negative  and 
affirmative  side  chosen,  and  speakers,  noted  in  the  society  for 
their  skill  in  debate,  pitted  against  each  other.  The  floor  was 
then  open  to  any  member,  and  not  a  few  young  men,  who 
hoped  some  day  for  a  seat  in  the  Assembly  or  the  Senate, 
gladly  availed  themselves  of  such  opportunities  to  display  their 
political  sagacity  and  their  oratory.  On  the  present  occasion 
the  question  to  be  debated  was  whether  it  would  conduce  to 
the  public  peace  and  safety  to  pass  a  law  removing  from  the 
State  certain  characters  of  influence  who  had  uniformly  mani 
fested  an  inveterate  opposition  to  the  liberties  of  the  people. 
The  question  was  so  important  that  almost  every  member  was 
in  his  seat,  and  the  debate  was  warm  and  rancorous,  for  some 
members,  while  they  disliked  the  Tories,  disliked  still  more 
any  measure  looking  to  a  forcible  expulsion.  But  despite  their 
arguments,  when  a  show  of  hands  was  called  on  the  merits  of 

*  New  York  Packet,  May  4,  1784.  For  the  resolutions  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  small  towns  in  the  other  parts  of  the  State,  see  American  Remembrancer, 
Part  iii,  1783,  pp.  58-61,  96,  97,  123,  267,  269. 


1784.  TORIES   TARRED   AND   FEATHERED.  123 

the  debate,  almost  every  hand  in  the  room  went  up  in  the 
affirmative.  It  was  then  determined  to  make  public  these 
proceedings,  and  to  appoint  another  evening  for  a  yet  further 
discussion  of  the  question.* 

But  the  debate  in  the  Whig  Society  had  scarce  been  made 
known  when  news  came  which  greatly  amused  the  Whigs.  A 
petition  had  for  some  time  past  been  going  from  town  to  town 
through  northern  New  Jersey.  The  petition  set  forth  that 
the  signers  condemned  the  harsh  treatment  their  more  zealous 
brethren  had  subjected  the  Tories  to  in  New  York,  and  in 
vited  all  such  injured  ones  to  come,  be  made  welcome,  and 
live  in  peace  and  friendship  with  the  farmers  of  New  Jer 
sey.  Many  names  were  obtained  in  different  towns,  but  no 
where  in  such  numbers  as  in  Amboy,  New  Brunswick,  and 
Piscataway.  To  these  places  the  Tories  had  therefore  gone 
in  crowds,  and  among  those  who  went  were  Thomas  Crowell 
and  Elias  Barnes.  Crowell  and  Barnes  had  at  first  settled  in 
Amboy,  but  at  length  determined  to  try  their  fortunes  at  the 
little  village  of  Woodbridge,  some  five  miles  distant.  Thither 
they  went ;  but  no  sooner  was  their  arrival  known  than  a 
town-meeting  was  held,  and  a  committee  appointed  to  bid  them 
welcome.  The  committee  waited  on  them,  informed  them  of 
the  great  joy  entertained  by  the  village  at  their  arrival,  and 
assured  them  that  they  were  just  the  sort  of  men  that  were 
wanted.  The  Tories  were  much  pleased,  thanked  the  com 
mittee,  and  said  they  were  at  first  of  a  mind  to  settle  at  Port 
Roseway,  a  place  they  believed  of  great  plenty,  but,  having 
been  urgently  invited  to  come  to  Jersey,  and  assured  that  all 
such  as  were  heavy-laden  would  find  at  Amboy  a  place  of  rest, 
they  had  come,  desiring  to  be  made  good  citizens.  The  com 
mittee  in  return  thanked  the  Tories  for  their  unexpected 
goodness,  when  one,  more  forward  than  the  rest,  declared  that 
"  for  his  part  he  was  touched  to  the  heart  at  such  a  meeting ; 
he  was  desperately  afraid  the  Tories  would  all  go  to  Scotia." 
He  then  expressed  his  sorrow  at  being  compelled  to  inform 
his  new  friends  that  the  people  of  Woodbridge  had  deter 
mined  that  no  Tories  should  settle  among  them  till  they  had 
first  been  tarred  and  feathered.  Barnes  and  Crowell  were 

*  New  York  Packet,  May  25,  1784. 


124          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

for  a  moment  dumfounded.  They  stoutly  protested,  talked 
much  of  the  sixth  article  of  the  treaty,  of  the  recommenda 
tion  of  Congress,  of  the  conduct  of  the  good  people  of  Pis- 
cataway,  of  'New  Brunswick,  of  Amboy,  but  all  to  no  pur 
pose.  In  a  few  minutes  they  were  stripped  naked,  and  tarred 
and  feathered  "  as  completely,"  said  a  witness,  "  as  if  it  had 
been  done  in  one  of  those  seminaries  of  the  art,  Boston  or 
Connecticut."  * 

In  Philadelphia  some  bitter  complaints  were  made  that  a 
great  number  of  those  miscreants  who  called  themselves  loy 
alists  were  daily  seen  flashing  among  the  citizens,  claiming 
protection  under  the  treaty,  and  pretending  to  have  business 
to  transact.  The  only  business  they  had,  it  was  alleged,  was 
to  put  Americans  at  variance  with  the  King  of  France.  Noth 
ing  could  be  done  with  them  because  of  the  articles  in  the 
treaty ;  but  it  would  not  be  amiss,  the  moment  a  Tory  came 
to  town,  to  find  out  his  business,  set  a  guard  over  him,  conduct 
him  through  the  streets,  and,  when  his  work  was  done,  show 
him  out  of  the  city.f 

But,  of  the  many  legal  proceedings  of  the  time,  none  bore 
such  strong  marks  of  a  fierce  and  implacable  hatred  as  the 
Trespass  Act.  By  the  terms  of  this  law,  an  action  of  trespass 
for  the  recovery  of  damages  was  given  to  all  persons  who  had 
fled  from  their  homes  in  consequence  of  invasion,  against  such 
persons  as  had  subsequently  entered  and  remained  in  posses 
sion.  The  only  plea  which  the  possessors  could  advance  in 
justification  was  that  they  had  been  placed  in  possession  by  a 
military  order.  A  military  order  was  therefore  declared,  by 
the  provisions  of  the  act,  to  be  no  justification  of  the  seizure, 
and  the  Tories  thus  deprived  of  all  ground  of  defence. 

No  sooner  did  this  law  go  into  operation  than  every  house 
holder  whose  home  had,  for  the  shortest  space  of  time,  been 
in  the  possession  of  an  enemy,  hastened  to  seek  indemnity  in 
an  action  of  trespass  with  enormous  damages.  The  lawyers 
were  beset  with  clients ;  the  court  calendars  were  crowded 

*  New  York  Packet,  June  26,  1784.  For  the  state  of  feeling  at  New  Bruns 
wick,  see  Pennsylvania  Packet,  March  20,  1784. 

f  Freeman's  Journal,  Philadelphia,  August  5,  1784.  See,  also,  American  Re 
membrancer,  Part  ii,  1783,  pp.  273,  278. 


1784.  CHARACTER   OF  HAMILTON.  125 

with  actions  for  trespass.  The  work,  howrever,  of  clearing 
the  calendars  went  rapidly  on,  and  many  cases  had  already 
been  disposed  of  when  one  was  reached  which  had  long  been 
looked  forward  to  with  increasing  interest,  and  whose  unex 
pected  decision  caused  no  small  consternation.  There  was 
nothing  in  the  matter  in  action  to  distinguish  the  case  from 
the  hundreds  that  had  gone  before  it.  The  plaintiff  was  a 
widow  who,  alone  and  defenceless,  had  left  home  and  property 
and  fled  in  terror  for  her  life  in  the  dark  days  when  the  sol 
diers  of  Howe  ran  riot  in  the  streets  of  'New  York.  The 
defendant  was  a  rich  Tory  merchant,  who,  by  a  military  order, 
had  been  placed  in  possession  of  the  abandoned  property,  had 
from  that  time  continued  to  hold  it,  and  was  fully  determined 
not  to  yield  it  without  a  contest  in  the  courts.*  Each  side 
had  secured  the  services  of  eminent  counsel,  but  a  murmur 
of  surprise  not  unmingled  with  indignation  went  through  the 
coffee-houses  and  taverns  when  it  was  known  that  the  detested 
Tory  was  to  be  defended  by  Alexander  Hamilton. 

Of  all  the  men  who,  in  the  judgment  of  posterity,  are 
ranked  high  among  the  founders  of  the  republic  and  the 
framers  and  defenders  of  the  Constitution,  by  far  the  most 
brilliant  and  versatile  was  Hamilton.  His  temper  was  gentle  ; 
his  manner  engaging ;  his  spirit,  high  and  resolute,  was  raised 
above  the  influence  both  of  cupidity  and  of  fear ;  his  parts 
were  quick  ;  his  industry  unwearied  ;  his  attainments  various. 
He  was  at  once  a  skilful  officer,  a  brilliant  pamphleteer,  an 
active  political  leader,  an  impressive  debater,  a  wise  statesman, 
an  able  financier,  a  political  economist  of  rare  sagacity.  In 
his  veins  was  mingled  the  blood  of  two  distinctly  opposite 
races.  In  his  mind  and  character  were  combined  the  choicest 
traits  of  each.  From  his  father,  a  cool,  deliberate,  calculating 
Scotchman,  he  inherited  the  shrewdness,  the  logical  habits  of 
thought,  which  constitute  the  peculiar  glory  of  the  Scottish 
mind.  From  his  mother,  a  lady  of  French  extraction,  and 
the  daughter  of  a  Huguenot  exile,  he  inherited  the  easy  man 
ners,  the  liveliness  and  vivacity,  the  keen  sense  of  humor,  the 

*  See  a  pamphlet  called  The  Case  of  Elizabeth  Rutgers  vs.  Joshua  Wadding- 
ton,  determined  in  the  Mayor's  Court  in  the  City  of  New  York,  August  7,  1784. 
H.  B.  Dawson. 


126          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

desire  and  the  ability  to  please,  which  so  eminently  distinguish 
the  children  of  the  Celtic  race.  Born  within  fifteen  degrees 
of  the  equator,  the  rare  powers  of  his  mind  ripened  in  him  at 
a  time  when,  in  the  natives  of  a  colder  climate,  they  have 
scarcely  begun  to  bloom.  Since  the  time  of  William  of 
Orange  the  world  had  rarely  seen  an  instance  of  so  mature  a 
mind  in  so  young  a  lad.  At  an  age  when  even  the  most  pre 
cocious  of  young  men  are  still  poring  over  Horace  and  Xeno- 
phon,  he  had,  under  the  impulse  of  the  moment,  risen  up  in  a 
grave  and  temperate  meeting  of  his  townsmen  and  delivered  a 
speech  which  called  forth  loud  comments  of  praise.  At  seven 
teen  he  wTas  already  renowned  through  the  colonies  as  a  polit 
ical  writer,  and  saw  with  delight  his  anonymous  pamphlet  at 
tributed  to  the  mature  hands  of  Clinton  and  of  Jay.  Before 
he  was  eighteen  he  had  become  a  frequent  contributor  to  a 
Whig  sheet  published  in  New  York  by  John  Holt,  sending 
now  a  paper  of  a  grave  and  argumentative  character,  now  a 
satire  in  the  best  vein  of  Swift.  At  twenty-three,  in  an  hour 
of  gloom,  when  the  national  treasury  was  empty,  it  was  pro 
posed  to  send  him  with  Lafayette  to  the  French  court  to  nego 
tiate  a  new  loan.  When  the  war  opened  he  hastened  to  join 
the  army,  soon  attained  to  the  rank  of  captain  of  artillery, 
was  made  aide-de-camp  to  Washington,  and  took  a  brilliant 
part  in  the  campaign  which  ended  with  the  surrender  of  Corn- 
wallis.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  had  chosen  the  law  as  his 
profession,  and  was  now,  in  his  twenty-ninth  year,  acknowl 
edged  by  his  worst  enemy  to  be  second  to  none  of  the  many 
able  men  who  pleaded  at  the  bar  of  New  York.  He  had  re 
cently  been  sent  to  Congress,  and  had  there  introduced  many 
resolutions  which  show  his  views  to  have  been  far  in  advance 
of  his  age.  He  soon  became  an  authority  on  the  affairs  of  the 
army,  was  on  the  committee  to  model  the  peace  establishment, 
and  distinguished  himself  by  an  earnest  support  of  every 
measure  for  the  relief  of  the  troops. 

But  the  case  in  which  he  was  now  retained  was  one  far 
more  likely  to  cover  him  with  infamy  than  with  glory.  Never 
since  the  day  when  John  Adams  had  stood  up  in  court  to  de 
fend  the  British  soldiers  charged  with  the  murder  of  citizens 
in  the  "Boston  Massacre"  had  a  stanch  patriot  attempted 


1784.  LETTERS   OF  MENTOK.  127 

to  find  excuses  for  the  doings  of  Tories.  The  service  he 
had  undertaken  was  held  by  his  fellow-citizens  to  be  of  no 
honorable  kind,  and  he  was  plainly  told  so.  But  the  fee  was 
large,  the  opportunity  for  a  display  of  forensic  ability  was 
not  to  be  thrown  away  with  impunity,  nor  can  it  in  justice  be 
denied  that  an  honest  conviction  that  the  Tories  were  ill-used 
had  much  weight  in  determining  his  action.  The  case  was 
soon  brought  to  trial,  was  sharply  contested,  and  a  verdict 
finally  rendered  in  behalf  of  the  defendant.  While  the  ver 
dict  did  much  to  increase  the  reputation  of  Hamilton  as  a 
learned  and  skilful  advocate,  it  added  nothing  to  his  popu 
larity.  His  conduct  was  severely  criticised,  and  it  was  long 
before  he  regained  his  former  high  place  in  the  opinion  of  his 
townsmen. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  he  put  forth  the  first  of  his  let 
ters  of  Phocion.  In  them  he  proceeded  to  take  a  calm  and 
dignified  review  of  the  opinions  held  by  the  people  on  matters 
of  politics,  pointed  out  the  absurdity  of  many,  and  furnished 
a  collection  of  excellent  arguments  for  a  more  humane  and 
honorable  treatment  of  the  refugees  and  Tories. 

The  letters  were  well  received,  widely  read,  and  replied 
to  with  much  asperity  by  Isaac  Ledyard.  It  was  then  the 
fashion  among  pamphleteers  and  letter-writers  to  put  forth 
their  productions  over  a  name  borrowed  from  the  classics. 
Ledyard  chose  that  of  Mentor.  Ledyard  was  a  man  of  parts, 
a  fluent  writer,  an  easy  speaker,  and  one  of  a  company  of 
boon  companions  who  met  every  day  at  the  same  hour  at  the 
same  coffee-house  to  Discuss  politics,  and,  when  deep  in  their 
cups,  to  harangue  against  Congress,  against  standing  armies, 
and  the  refugees.  The  letters  of  Phocion  had  given  high  dis 
pleasure  to  this  company  of  revellers,  and  Ledyard  undertook 
to  refute  them.  The  reply  of  Mentor,  which  was  far  from 
an  able  performance,  called  forth  a  second  letter  from  Pho 
cion,  which  was  in  turn  followed  by  another  letter  from  Men 
tor.  As  letter  after  letter  came  forth,  the  superiority  of  Ham 
ilton  over  his  antagonist  in  candor,  in  weight  of  argument, 
and  in  brilliancy  of  style  became  quite  apparent.  Indeed, 
before  the  letters  ceased  to  appear,  the  town  had  made  up  its 
mind  that  the  victory  was  with  Phocion. 


128          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

There  still  remained,  however,  one  other  weapon,  armed 
with  which  the  friends  of  Ledyard  believed  they  could  prove 
a  match,  nay,  more  than  a  match  for  Hamilton.  To  this 
they  now  betook  themselves.  His  pride,  his  courage,  his  high 
sense  of  personal  honor  were  w^ell  known  to  them.  They 
determined  therefore  to  call  him  out.  They  would  form 
themselves  into  a  club,  would  bind  themselves  by  a  solemn  oath 
to  secrecy,  and,  one  by  one,  challenge  Phocion  to  duel  after 
duel  till  he  fell  dead  before  the  pistol  of  one  of  the  company. 
Much  as  he  hated  his  rival,  the  stout  heart  of  Ledyard  re 
volted  from  murder.  He  would  have  revenge,  but  it  should 
be  revenge  of  an  honorable  kind.  He  accordingly  interfered, 
and  the  evil  design  of  his  friends  was  never  carried  into  exe 
cution.  That  such  a  scheme  should  have  been  meditated,  not 
by  villains  and  cutthroats,  but  by  men  who  passed  in  the 
world  as  refined  and  polished  gentlemen,  throws  much  light 
on  the  morality  of  the  times,  and  the  bitterness  of  the  pas 
sions  the  war  had  aroused.* 

In  the  Southern  States  the  Trimmers  and  Yicars  of  Bray, 
so  the  Tories  were  nick-named,  were  yet  more  severely  dealt 
with.  All  were  compelled  to  nee  for  their  lives.  A  few  who 
were  bold  enough  to  return  were  put  to  death.  But  it  must 
in  justice  be  owned  that  a  great  number  of  cruel  and  bloody 
deeds  can  be  cited  in  extenuation  of  such  acts.  While  the 
redcoats  of  Tarleton  were  overrunning  South  Carolina,  to 
murder  Whig  farmers  in  the  dead  of  night,  to  burn  Whig 
houses  and  barns,  and  run  off  the  cattle  of  men  who  were 
serving  under  Marion  or  Sumter,  was  a  favorite  amusement 
of  many  bands  of  Tories  who  made  their  homes  in  the  moun 
tains,  and  sallied  thence  to  plunder  and  kill.  But  when  the 
day  of  retribution  came,  the  odium  of  their  deeds  was  such 
that  they  shrank  from  the  presence  of  men  they  had  so  deeply 
wronged,  left  lands  and  beeves,  and  fled  with  the  troops. 
Three  years  had  gone  by,  and  a  few  of  the  refugees,  finding 
exile  intolerable,  began  to  think  of  coming  back.  They  threw 
themselves,  they  said,  upon  the  mercy  of  the  people.  If 
they  might  only  be  allowed  to  return,  not  a  word  should  be 
said  about  estates  that  had  been  confiscated,  or  debts  that  were 


Morse's  Life  of  Hamilton,  vol.  i,  pp.  149,  150. 


1784.  TREATMENT   OF  THE  TORIES.  129 

due.*  They  wished  merely  to  become  good  and  peaceful  citi 
zens.  Many  sent  petitions  to  the  Legislature  ;  but  the  news 
soon  became  public,  and  the  papers  solemnly  warned  them 
not  to  set  foot  on  the  land  they  had  reddened  with  blood. 
Some  took  the  hint  and  stayed  away.  Others,  trusting  to  the 
provisions  of  the  treaty,  came  back,  and,  while  the  Assembly 
deliberated  on  their  cases,  set  out  for  their  former  homes. 
A  party  of  twelve  went  up  in  a  body  to  take  possession  of 
their  abandoned  plantations  on  the  banks  of  a  little  brook 
called  Fishing  creek,  were  promptly  waited  upon  by  old 
friends  and  neighbors,  told  they  were  obnoxious  to  those 
whose  houses  they  had  plundered  and  burned,  and  were  given 
twenty  days  in  which  to  quit  the  country.  "When  the  pre 
scribed  time  expired  not  one  of  them  had  budged.  The 
"Whigs  lost  all  patience,  flew  into  a  passion,  and,  after  three 
days  more  of  grace,  attacked  the  Tories,  put  eight  to  death, 
and  suffered  four  to  flee  with  all  speed  to  the  coast,  f  There 
a  better  reception  seemed  to  await  them,  for  the  Legislature 
had  passed  a  bill  granting  leave  to  a  number  of  refugees  to 
remain  in  the  State.  But  the  people  of  Charleston  took  up 
the  matter,  vowed  that  no  turn-coat  should  find  an  asylum  in 
their  city,  held  a  meeting,  formed  a  procession,  marched  up 
and  down  the  streets,  and  raised  a  riot  which  lasted  several 


A  strange  infatuation  appears,  however,  to  have  seized  upon 
the  refugees.  "While  these  events  were  still  fresh  in  the  pub 
lic  mind,  a  fellow  named  Love,  who  had  distinguished  himself 
for  cruel  and  barbarous  deeds,  had  the  front  to  show  himself 
in  his  native  village  of  Ninety-Six.  It  is  said  of  Love  that 
while  the  troops  of  Balfour  and  Cunningham  roamed  the 
State  he  joined  them,  and  became  a  principal  actor  in  a  most 
shocking  piece  of  work.  During  the  winter  of  1781  a  party 
of  thirty-five  Americans  were  surprised  by  Cunningham  in  a 
house  hard  by  the  banks  of  Bush  river.  A  spirited  defence 
was  made,  but  reasonable  terms  being  offered,  the  Americans 
marched  out  and  threw  down  their  arms.  Nineteen  were  in 
stantly  shot.  After  the  slaughter  was  over,  Love  traversed 

*  Pennsylvania  Packet,  March  16,  1784.  f  Ibid.,  June  8,  1784. 

}  Ibid.,  July  22,  1784. 

VOL.    I.  —  10 


\ 

130          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  11. 

the  ground  where  lay  the  dead  and  dying,  his  former  neigh 
bors  and  old  acquaintances,  and,  as  he  saw  signs  of  life  in  any 
of  them,  ran  his  sword  through  and  dispatched  them.  Those 
already  dead  he  stabbed  again.  To  others  seemingly  without 
life,  but  whose  bodies  twitched  involuntarily  as  his  sword 
passed  through  them,  he  gave  new  wounds. 

From  that  day  Love  was  a  marked .  man.  He  fled  with 
the  British,  and  nothing  more  was  heard  of  him  till,  one  day 
in  November,  1784,  he  appeared  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Ninety-Six.  A  justice  of  the  peace  took  him  into  custody 
and  sent  him  to  jail.  The  State's  attorney  pressed  the  matter 
before  the  Court  of  Sessions.  ^Edanus  Burke,  an  eccentric 
Irishman  and  a  noted  character  in  the  State,  presided,  over 
ruled  the  prosecution,  declared  that  conscience  could  alone 
punish  the  prisoner,  and  dismissed  the  case.  No  demonstra 
tion  was  made  in  the  court-room,  but,  as  the  hated  Tory  walked 
insultingly  out,  he  was  laid  hold  of,  placed  on  horseback,  hur 
ried  to  a  clump  of  trees  without  the  village,  and  hanged.* 

The  open  contempt  with  which,  in  all  parts  of  the  coun 
try,  the  people  treated  the  recommendation  of  Congress  con 
cerning  the  refugees  and  the  payment  of  the  debts,  was  no 
more  than  any  man  of  ordinary  sagacity  could  have  foretold. 
Indeed,  the  state  into  which  Congress  had  fallen  was  most 
wretched.  Rudely  formed  amid  the  agonies  of  a  revolution, 
the  Confederation  had  never  been  revised  and  brought  nearer 
to  perfection  in  a  season  of  tranquillity.  Each  of  the  thirteen 
States  the  Union  bound  together  retained  all  the  rights  of 
sovereignty,  and  asserted  them  punctiliously  against  the  cen 
tral  government.  Each  reserved  to  itself  the  right  to  put  up 
mints,  to  strike  money,  to  levy  taxes,  to  raise  armies,  to  say 
what  articles  should  come  into  its  ports  free  and  what  should 
be  made  to  pay  duty.  Toward  the  Continental  Government 
they  acted  precisely  as  if  they  were  dealing  with  a  foreign 
power.  In  truth,  one  of  the  truest  patriots  of  New  England 
had  not  been  ashamed  to  stand  up  in  his  place  in  the  Massa 
chusetts  House  of  Deputies  and  speak  of  the  Congress  of  the 

*  See  a  letter  from  Mr.  Justice  Burke  to  Governor  Guerard,  December  14, 
1784.  This  was  published  in  the  papers  of  the  time,  and  afterward  in  the  Aincri« 
can  Museum  for  February,  1787,  p.  126. 


1784.  SYSTEM  OF  KEPRESENTATIOK  131 

States  as  a  foreign  government.  Every  act  of  that  body  was 
scrutinized  with  the  utmost  care.  The  transfer  of  the  most 
trivial  authority  beyond  the  borders  of  the  State  was  made 
with  protestations,  with  trembling,  and  with  fear.  Under 
such  circumstances,  each  delegate  felt  himself  to  have  much 
the  character,  and  to  be  clothed  with  very  much  of  the  power, 
of  ambassadors.  He  was  not  responsible  to  men,  he  was  re 
sponsible  to  a  State.  The  opinions  which  he  expressed,  the 
measures  which  he  advanced,  were  not  those  of  a  great  party, 
nor  even  such  as  found  favor  among  the  men  of  his  own  dis 
trict  or  of  his  own  town.  They  were  such  as  he  believed  to 
be  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  a  majority  of  the  members 
of  that  Legislature  which  had  sent  him  to  the  post  he  filled. 
To  him  the  smallest  interest  of  the  little  patch  of  earth  he 
called  his  native  State  was  of  far  more  importance  than  the 
greatest  interest  of  the  Confederation  of  States. 

From  beginning  to  end  the  system  of  representation  was 
bad.  By  the  Articles  of  Confederation  each  of  the  thirteen 
little  republics  was  annually  to  send  to  Congress  not  more 
than  seven  and  not  less  than  two  delegates.  No  thought  was 
taken  of  population.  The  immense  State  of  Virginia,  whose 
domains  stretched  along  the  valley  of  the  Ohio  and  the  shores 
of  the  lakes,  and  who  boasted  that  upon  her  lands  were  the 
homes  of  seven  hundred  thousand  human  beings,  was  to  com 
mand  no  more  votes  and  to  have  no  more  influence  in  the 
councils  of  the  nation  than  the  petty  State  of  Rhode  Island, 
where  the  lists  of  the  census-takers  did  not  add  up  to  seventy 
thousand  souls.  But  this  absolute  equality  of  the  States  was 
more  apparent  than  real.  Congress  possessed  no  revenue. 
The  burden  of  supporting  the  delegates  was  cast  on  those 
who  sent  them,  and,  as  the  charge  was  not  light,  a  motive  was. 
at  once  created  for  preferring  a  representation  of  two  to  a1 
representation  of  seven,  or,  indeed,  for  sending  none  at  all. 

While  the  war  was  still  raging  and  the  enemy  marching 
and  counter-marching  within  the  border  of  every  State,  a 
sense  of  fear  kept  up  the  number  of  delegates  to  at  least  two. 
Indeed,  some  of  the  wealthier  and  more  populous  States  often 
had  as  many  as  four  congressmen  on  the  floor  of  the  House. 
But  the  war  was  now  over.  The  stimulus  derived  from  the 


132          THE   WEAKNESS  OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  ir. 

presence  of  a  hostile  army  was  withdrawn,  and  the  represen 
tation  and  attendance  fell  off  fast.  Delaware  and  Georgia 
ceased  to  be  represented.  From  the  ratification  of  the  treaty 
to  the  organization  of  the  Government  under  the  Constitution 
six  years  elapsed,  and  during  those  six  years  Congress,  though 
entitled  to  ninety-one  members,  was  rarely  attended  by  twen 
ty-five.  The  House  was  repeatedly  forced  to  adjourn  day 
after  day  for  want  of  a  quorum.  On  more  than  one  occasion 
these  adjournments  covered  a  period  of  thirteen  consecutive 
days.*  Resolutions  were  passed  condemning  this,  and  appeals 
made  in  the  strongest  language.f  The  Legislatures  were  as 
sured  that,  while  they  were  represented  in  Congress  by  two 
delegates  only,  such  an  unanimity  for  conducting  important 
public  concerns  as  was  necessary  could  rarely  be  had  ;  that, 
if  each  of  the  thirteen  States  should  send  but  two  congress 
men,  it  would  be  possible  for  five  out  of  the  twenty-six  to 
negative  any  measure  requiring  the  consent  of  nine  States ; 
that  eleven  States  were  then  on  the  floor  of  Congress ;  that 
nine  of  these  eleven  had  but  two  delegates  each,  and  that  it 
was  therefore  in  the  power  of  three  men  to  negative  meas 
ures  of  the  greatest  weight,  such  as  the  ratification  of  a  treaty 
of  commerce,  the  emission  of  bills  of  credit,  the  appropriation 
of  money  to  the  discharge  of  the  interest  on  the  debt,  or  the 
raising  of  a  land  force  to  fight  the  Indians  on  the  frontier. 
But  the  appeal  went,  like  all  other  appeals,  like  that  for  an 
impost,  for  an  established  revenue,  for  the  right  to  manage 
trade,  unheeded.  ~No  occasion,  however  impressive  or  im 
portant,  could  call  out  a  large  attendance.  Seven  States, 
represented  by  twenty  delegates,  witnessed  the  resignation  of 
Washington.^:  Twenty -three  members,  sitting  for  eleven 
States,  voted  for  the  ratification  of  the  treaty. # 

On  such  questions  as  came  up  from  day  to  day ;  should  the 
accounts  of  some  quartermaster  be  audited,  should  a  reward 
be  offered  for  the  capture  of  a  highwayman  who  had  robbed 
the  mails,  should  some  cannon  be  returned  to  New  York, 

*  Journals  of  Congress  for  1784.     See,  also,  on  the  dilatoriness  of  Congress, 
a  letter  from  R.  H.  Lee  to  Samuel  Adams,  November  18,  1784.     Life  of  Adams 
by  Wells.  f  Ibid.,  April  19,  1784.  \  Ibid.,  December  22,  1783. 

*  Ibid.,  January  14,  1784. 


1784.        CONTEMPT   OF  THE  PRESS  FOR   CONGRESS.         133 

should  a  committee  be  appointed  to  devise  plans  for  cutting 
up  the  western  lands,  who  should  be  geographer  for  the 
next  year,  what  should  be  done  with  the  man  who  had  as 
saulted  the  French  minister  in  Philadelphia,  the  assent  of  a 
majority  of  the  States  was  sufficient,  and,  on  the  largest  bal 
lot  the  House  could  cast,  six  votes  could  make  the  question 
pass  in  the  negative.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that 
Congress  speedily  degenerated  into  a  debating  club,  and  a 
debating  club  of  no  very  high  order.  Neglected  by  its  own 
members,  insulted  and  threatened  by  its  mutinous  troops,  re 
viled  by  the  press,  and  forced  to  wander  from  city  to  city  in 
search  of  an  abiding  place,  its  acts  possessed  no  national  im 
portance  whatever.  It  voted  monuments  that  never  were  put 
up,  rewarded  meritorious  services  with  sums  of  money  that 
never  were  paid,  formed  wise  schemes  for  the  relief  of  the 
finances  that  never  were  carried  out,  and  planned  on  paper  a 
great  city  that  never  was  built.  In  truth,  to  the  scoffers  and 
malcontents  of  that  day,  nothing  was  more  diverting  than  the 
uncertain  wanderings  of  Congress.  Driven  from  Philadel 
phia  by  the  jibes  and  taunts  of  a  band  of  drunken  ploughmen, 
it  flees  to  Princeton,  and  there,  under  the  guns  of  fifteen  hun 
dred  regulars,  passes  its  resolutions  in  Nassau  Hall.  From 
Princeton  it  adjourns  to  Annapolis,  from  Annapolis  to  Tren 
ton,  from  Trenton  to  New  York.  Meanwhile  the  press  is 
making  merry.  In  one  squib  Congress  is  likened  to  a  pendu 
lum  vibrating  between  Annapolis  and  New  York.  In  another 
an  honest  countryman  is  made  to  entreat  the  Lord  to  make  it 
like  unto  a  wheel,  and  keep  it  rolling  from  Dan  to  Beersheba, 
from  Beersheba  to  Dan,  and  give  it  no  rest  on  this  side  of 
Jordan. 

In  the  coffee-houses  and  taverns  no  toasts  were  drunk  with 
such  uproarious  applause  as  "  A  hoop  to  the  barrel "  and 
"  Cement  to  the  Union  " ;  toasts  which  not  long  before  had 
sprung  up  in  the  army  and  come  rapidly  into  vogue.* 

While  the  mockers  and  jesters  were  thus  busy  in  the  en 
deavor  to  bring  down  what  little  respect  was  still  felt  for 
Congress,  another  and  a  very  different  class  of  men  were 

*  In  a  letter  to  Washington,  General  Knox  observes  that  no  toasts  were  drunk 
in  the  army  but  "A  hoop  to  the  barrel "  and  "  Cement  to  the  Union." 


THE   WEAKNESS   OF   THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  11. 

equally  strenuous  in  the  endeavor  to  bring  over  to  that  body 
the  good-will  and  hearty  support  of  the  populace.  The  pres 
ent  state  of  public  affairs  was,  they  said,*  most  deplorable, 
and  nobody  regretted  it  more  deeply  than  they  did.  It  was 
idle,  however,  to  seek  for  the  cure  in  abuse,  in  ridicule,  and  in 
unjust  complaints.  The  cause,  it  was  evident,  lay  either  with 
Congress,  with  the  Legislatures  of  the  States,  or  with  the 
people.  Congress  had  undoubtedly  much  to  answer  for,  but 
it  was  at  the  same  time  to  be  remembered  how  really  small  its 
power  for  good  or  evil  was.  Congress  possessed  but  the 
semblance  of  power.  The  States  possessed  the  substance. 
Congress  could  merely  entreat,  persuade,  suggest.  The  States 
could  act.  It  was  therefore  idle  folly  to  hold  it  personally 
responsible  for  the  wretched  state  into  which  public  matters 
were  come.  All  the  ills  against  which  the  grumblers  were 
so  loudly  complaining  began  to  exist  while  the  framers  of  the 
Confederation  still  sat  in  Congress.  The  membership  of  that 
body  had  since  been  changed  over  and  over  again,  and  so 
completely  changed  that  scarce  one  of  the  men  who  had 
signed  their  names  to  the  articles  was  now  to  be  found  in  the 
House.  Yet  the  evils  still  continued  unabated.  Nor  had  any 
attempt  been  made  to  remove  them.  It  was,  to  say  the  least, 
not  a  little  singular  that,  while  the  constitutions  of  the  various 
States  had  one  by  one  undergone  careful  revisions,  no  steps 
had  ever  been  taken  to  remedy  the  defects  of  the  Articles  of 
Confederation.  ~No  political  sagacity  was  needed  to  detect 
them.  They  were  many  and  glaring.  Any  one  who  would 
take  the  trouble  to  look  about  him  could  not  help  seeing 
that  the  Union  was  wholly  unequal  to  the  needs  of  the 
United  States.  It  had  been  formed  in  the  midst  of  hostilities, 
in  an  hour  of  extreme  peril,  to  meet  immediate  exigencies. 
These  dangers  had  now  passed  away.  ~New  and  imminent 
dangers  were  soon  to  be  encountered,  and  for  these  the  Con 
federation  was  totally  unprepared.  If  the  Union  were  not  to 
be  dissolved,  additional  power  must  instantly  be  bestowed  on 
Congress.  The  State  governments  were  day  by  day  growing 
more  powerful.  In  the  wicked  hope  of  increasing  their  own 

*  Some  of  these  views  are  well  expressed  in  the  New  Jersey  Gazette  for  July 
16,  1783. 


1784.  THE  PLEA  OF  YOEIOK.  135 

importance  they  were  steadily  undermining  the  power  and 
influence  of  Congress.  When  the  recommendations  of  that 
august  body  were  in  accordance  with  the  aims  and  wishes  of 
the  Legislatures,  they  were  adopted ;  but  when  some  sacrifice 
for  the  good  of  the  country  was  demanded,  they  were  coldly 
disregarded  or  openly  despised.  Patriotism  was  now  under 
stood  to  mean  devotion  to  the  interests  and  welfare  of  one's 
native  State. 

Much  blame  also  lay  with  the  people.  They  seemed  to 
forget  that  their  situation  in  1784-  was  very  different  from 
their  situation  in  1764:.  In  1764  the  colonies,  though  ac 
knowledging  allegiance  to  a  common  King,  were  widely  sepa 
rated  by  diversities  of  tastes,  of  customs,  of  occupations,  and 
by  all  manner  of  petty  jealousies.  But  ten  years  of  tyranny 
and  oppression  at  last  did  for  them  what  no  amount  of  argu 
ment  could  ever  have  brought  about — it  united  them.  They 
forgot  all  differences,  and  joined  in  a  common  league  against 
the  common  foe  for  the  common  good.  Ten  years  more  of 
suffering  and  warfare  went  by,  and  the  purpose  for  which 
that  league  had  been  formed  was  fully  accomplished.  They 
were  no  longer  British  subjects.  Neither  were  they  separate 
and  distinct  colonies.  They  were  parts  of  'One  great  Confed 
eration.  It  was  high  time  that  this  fact  was  understood,  and 
that  all  envy,  hatred  and  malice  were  laid  aside.  Ten  years 
ago  the  States  were  rivals ;  now  the  States  were,  or  at  least 
ought  to  be,  partners.  Ten  years  ago  the  States  had  no  in 
terest  in  common,  unless  it  was  that  of  self-preservation ; 
now  the  States  had  no  interests  which  were  not  in  common. 
Yet  there  was  great  danger  of  the  old  jealousies,  the  old  ani 
mosities,  again  breaking  out  with  renewed  vigor.  They  should, 
under  the  new  order  of  things,  forget  old  injuries,  adjust  petty 
disputes,  and,  joined  in  a  firm  union  with  Congress  at  their 
head,  set  forth  on  the  great  career  that  lay  before  them. 

But  the  evils  and  the  remedy  were  set  forth  by  none  with 
so  much  truth  as  by  one  who  wrote  over  the  signature  of 
Yorick.  He  was  not  an  American.  He  was  an  alien  and  a 
stranger.  Yet  he  had  been  a  close  observer  of  every  phase 
of  political  life,  and,  as  he  belonged  to  no  particular  faction 
and  to  no  particular  State,  he  was  at  the  same  time  a  dispas- 


136          THE   WEAKNESS  OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

sionate  observer,  and  saw  many  tilings  which  utterly  escaped 
the  notice  of  his  more  factious  neighbors.  He  could  not,  he 
said,  but  lament  the  small  prospect  he  saw  of  a  great,  liberal, 
energetic  government  in  the  republic.  It  was  astonishing,  to 
say  the  least,  that  a  matter  of  so  much  magnitude,  a  matter 
which  so  materially  concerned  the  interest  of  America  as  that 
of  a  great,  solid,  and  efficient  government,  should  have  been 
so  long  unthought  of,  or,  if  not  unthought  of,  unattended  to. 
It  was  astonishing  that  in  such  stirring  times  no  man  had 
stepped  forward  to  lead  his  country  to  the  source  of  national 
happiness  and  prosperity.  "A  selfish  habitude  of  thinking 
and  reasoning,"  said  he,  "  leads  us  into  a  fatal  error  the  mo 
ment  we  begin  to  talk  of  the  interests  of  America.  The  fact 
is,  by  the  interests  of  America  we  mean  only  the  interests  of 
that  State  to  which  property  or  accident  has  attached  us. 
Thus  a  citizen  of  Philadelphia,  when  he  harangues  on  the 
rights  and  liberties  of  America,  is  not  aware  the  while  that 
he  is  merely  advocating  the  rights  and  liberties  of  Pennsyl 
vania.  And  our  fellow-citizen  here  labors  to  evince  his  in 
terest  and  efforts  in  the  well-being  of  America,  when  behold ! 
lead  him  to  the  westernmost  banks  of  the  Hudson,  or  beyond 
the  eastern  boundary  of  our  State,  and  his  heart  is  as  cold 
and  unconcerned  as  to  the  interests  of  Kouli  Khan  or  the 
Nabob  of  Arcot.  The  same  local  policy  pervades  all  America, 
and  the  people,  for  want  of  a  guide,  are  not  sensible  of  their 
error."  * 

Leaders,  indeed,  there  were,  whom  the  multitude  followed 
with  much  the  same  alacrity  and  thoughtlessness  that  a  herd 
of  buffaloes  follows  the  sturdiest  of  the  bulls.  But  among 
these  leaders  there  was  not  one  who  could  rise  above  the  in 
terests  of  his  own  State.  The  men  who,  in  after  years,  came 
to  eminence  as  the  framers  of  the  Constitution,  who  became 
renowned  leaders  of  the  Federalists,  presidents,  cabinet  min 
isters,  and  constitutional  statesmen,  were  then  in  private  life, 
abroad,  or  in  the  State  Assemblies.  Washington  was  busy 
with  his  negroes  and  tobacco ;  Adams  was  minister  to  Hol 
land  ;  Jefferson  still  sat  in  Congress,  but  was  soon  to  be  sent 
as  minister  to  France ;  Madison  sat  in  the  Virginia  House  of 

*  New  York  Packet,  August  30,  1784. 


1784.  THE   SHORTER   CATECHISM.  137 

Deputies  ;  Hamilton  was  wrangling  with  Livingston  and  Burr 
at  the  bar  of  New  York ;  Jay  was  minister  to  Spain.  Dema 
gogues  were  constantly  reminding  the  people  that  the  United 
States  were  thirteen  independent  republics ;  that  Congress 
was  merely  a  committee  of  the  States ;  that  it  was  unsafe  to 
enlarge  its  powers,  and  that  such  powers  as  it  already  possessed 
were  but  to  enable  it  to  dispatch  business  which  it  was  incon 
venient  or  inexpedient  for  the  States  to  settle  individually. 
If  now  and  then  a  sturdy  supporter  of  the  impost  and  the 
revenue  bill  was  bold  enough  to  dispute  these  assertions,  to 
advocate  the  increase  of  the  powers  of  Congress,  and  to  inti 
mate  that  under  the  present  system  certain  States  were  fast 
becoming  too  powerful  for  the  good  of  their  neighbors,  he  was 
plainly  told  that  he  was  now  talking  nonsense,  and  it  was 
hinted  that  it  would  not  be  amiss  to  disfranchise  a  man  whose 
political  principles  were  no  better  than  the  political  principles 
of  a  Tory. 

"While  such  appeals  were  made  to  thinking  men,  the  same 
arguments,  expressed  in  the  language  of  the  market  and  the 
pot-house,  were  addressed  to  those  on  whose  ears  the  most 
logical  reasoning  produced  no  impression  but  sound.  The 
shopkeepers  and  tradesmen  were  told  in  squibs,  in  broadsides, 
and  in  hand-bills,  that,  if  they  persisted  in  their  present  opin 
ions,  they  would  surely  find  reason  to  repent  wrhen  repentance 
was  too  late.  One  of  these  papers  had  a  large  circulation,  and 
was  called  "  A  Shorter  Catechism."  It  consisted  of  a  series 
of  thirty-two  questions  and  answers,  drawn  up  with  no  wit 
and  little  skill,  in  which  the  course  pursued  by  men  of  honor 
toward  their  benefactors  and  creditors  was  strongly  contrasted 
with  that  taken  by  the  public  toward  those  to  whom  were  due 
great  debts  of  gratitude  and  money.  What,  it  was  asked,  was 
gratitude?  A  disposition  to  repay  benefactors.  What  was 
public  gratitude  ?  Forgetfulness  of  benefits.  What  was  pa 
triotism?  A  hobby-horse.  What  was  liberty?  Licentious 
ness  unbridled.  What  was  independence?  Dependence  on 
nothing.  Who  had  gained  it  for  the  States  ?  The  army. 
How  should  the  soldiers  be  requited?  Cheat  them.  Who 
had  loaned  the  States  money?  France  and  Holland.  How 
should  they  be  repaid  ?  "  Laugh  at  'em."  Public  credit  was, 


138          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

according  to  the  catechism,  soldiers'  notes  at  thirty  per  centum 
discount.  Taxation  was  much  ado  about  nothing.  The  excise 
was  great  cry  and  little  wool.  Commutation  was  the  devil, 
and  when  it  was  asked  who  could  lay  him,  it  was  sarcastically 
answered,  the  Middletown  convention.* 

That  language  of  this  sort  was  both  wise  and  timely  there 
can  be  no  doubt,  for  the  condition  of  the  country  was  indeed 
critical.  The  people  had  just  emerged  from  a  long  and  ex 
hausting  war.  After  their  struggles,  their  sufferings,  their 
narrow  escape,  they  were  irritable  and  wavering.  Everything 
about  them  was  new.  Old  parties,  old  leaders,  old  forms  of 
government  had  gone  down  in  the  storm  of  revolution,  and 
no  new  ones  had  as  yet  arisen  to  take  their  places.  Not  a 
thing  existed  about  which  the  people  of  every  State  could 
rally.  They  had  yet  to  frame  a  foreign  policy  such  as  became 
the  high  rank  they  were  soon  to  occupy  in  the  family  of  na 
tions,  and  a  home  policy  such  as  would  unite  the  conflicting 
interests  of  thirteen  jealous  republics.  They  were  to  pay  off 
an  enormous  debt,  to  restore  a  depreciated  currency  and  re 
place  it  by  a  national  currency,  to  establish  a  public  credit, 
and  create  a  national  commerce.  Toward  furthering  all  these 
things  Congress  could  do  nothing,  or  next  to  nothing,  but 
advise,  recommend,  suggest.  As  a  body  it  was  absolutely 
destitute  of  that  fundamental  power  when  stripped  of  which 
no  government,  no  society,  no  organization,  known  among 
men,  can  long  hold  together ;  that  power  which  the  African 
negro  gives  to  his  chief,  which  the  Indian  bestows  upon  his 
sachem,  and  which,  even  by  thieves  and  pirates,  is  acknowl 
edged  to  belong  to  the  men  who  command  them,  the  power 
of  compelling  obedience  to  decrees.  Congress  was  graciously 
permitted  by  the  States  to  make  treaties,  and  was  then  forced 
to  sit  by  in  dumb  submission  and  see  article  after  article  vio 
lated  by  the  very  States  for  whose  benefit  the  treaty  was 
framed.  Congress  was  allowed,  nay,  compelled,  to  borrow 
money,  and  when  an  enormous  debt  had  thus  been  contracted, 
was  ungraciously  refused  the  means  of  liquidating  even  the 
annually  increasing  interest.  It  could  not  levy  a  dollar,  either 
by  way  of  impost  or  assessment,  on  the  property  of  a  citizen. 

*  The  catechism  was  printed  in  the  New  York  Packet  for  February  5,  1784. 


1784.  THE   COST   OF  THE   WAR.  139 

When  the  decrees  of  a  Legislature  were  in  direct  conflict  with 
the  lawful  and  constitutional  acts  of  Congress,  and  they  often 
were  so,  they  must  be  submitted  to  with  the  best  grace  pos 
sible,  for  no  power  to  annul  them  existed.  When  soldiers 
were  needed  to  fill  the  depleted  ranks  of  the  Continental  army, 
the  most  that  Congress  could  do  was  to  assign  to  each  State 
its  quota  and  wait  patiently  till  such  time  as  the  States  saw  fit 
to  enlist  and  equip  them.  And  now  when  money  was  impera 
tively  wanted  to  pay  the  arrearage  due  the  troops,  and  the 
interest  on  the  sums  generously  advanced  in  the  hour  of  need 
by  France,  Congress  was  once  more  brought  to  the  degrading 
necessity  of  putting  off  with  excuses  and  with  promises  the 
long-deferred  day  of  payment,  while  the  multitude  discussed 
the  dangers  of  establishing  a  revenue  to  be  applied  to  no  other 
purpose  than  the  discharge  of  their  debts. 

This  delay  on  the  part  of  the  States  to  comply  with  an 
eminently  just  and  wise  request  is  to  be  ascribed  to  the  utter 
lack  of  anything  approaching  to  a  national  spirit,  to  the  preva 
lent  dread  of  bestowing  enlarged  powers  on  Congress,  and  to 
the  immensity  of  the  sum  required.  The  cost  of  the  war  had 
been  in  round  numbers  one  hundred  and  forty  millions  of 
dollars.*  Much  of  this  had,  however,  been,  one  time  and  an 
other,  paid  off,  so  that  not  more  than  forty-two  millions  of  dol 
lars  of  the  domestic  debt  remained.  Yet  this  sum,  far  less  in 
amount  than  is  now  annually  yielded  to  the  Government  by 
the  Internal  Revenues,  and  about  one  sixty-seventh  as  much 
as  was  in  our  time  expended  by  the  Government  on  the  wai 
between  the  States,  f  seemed  to  our  ancestors  simply  appall 
ing.  The  time,  it  was  confidently  affirmed  by  the  grumblers, 
would  never  come  when  so  large  a  debt  would  be  extin 
guished.  Liberty  had,  indeed,  been  dearly  purchased.  Nor 
can  it  be  denied  that  there  seemed  to  be  much  truth  in  the 
statement,  for  it  was  with  difficulty  that  sufficient  money 
could  be  wrung  from  the  people  to  meet  the  current  expenses 
of  each  year.  By  the  reduction  made  in  the  forces  by  the 
resolutions  of  the  year  previous,  expenses  were  cut  down  to 
four  hundred  and  fifty-eight  thousand  dollars  ;  a  sum  less  than 
is  now  laid  out  each  year  by  the  City  of  New  York  in  water- 

*  Jefferson's  estimate.  f  The  war  debt  in  1865  was  $2,844,649,626. 


140          THE  WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

pipes,  paving-stones,  and  lamp-posts.  An  additional  million 
was  needed  to  meet  the  outstanding  deficiencies  of  the  year 
just  closed,  and  three  millions  to  pay  the  overdue  interest  on 
the  public  debt.  The  committee,  therefore,  who  had  the 
matter  in  charge,  informed  Congress  that  the  sum  needed  for 
the  year  1784  fell  not  far  short  of  five  and  a  half  millions  of 
dollars.  This  money  it  was  proposed  should  be  raised  in  three 
ways. 

Many  of  the  States,  by  the  stipulations  of  their  ancient 
charters,  claimed  jurisdiction  over  boundless  tracts  of  lands, 
stretching  from  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic  across  the  continent 
to  the  unknown  regions  which  lay  along  the  waters  of  the 
Mississippi.  Scarce  twenty  thousand  acres  of  the  far  western 
part  of  these  immense  domains  had  been  surveyed  and  mapped. 
It  may  be  doubted  whether  as  many  as  ten  thousand  acres 
were  under  cultivation.  Less  was  known  of  the  country  than 
of  the  heart  of  China.  There  the  Indians  hunted  the  buffalo 
and  the  deer,  and  the  trappers,  unmolested,  laid  snares  for  the 
beaver  and  the  mink.  The  inhabitants  of  the  eastern  part,  a 
gaunt,  rawboned,  poverty-stricken  race,  were  as  much  objects 
of  curiosity  to  the  refined  and  polished  natives  of  Boston  and 
New  York  as  an  Esquimau  or  a  Turk.  They  dwelt  in  the 
rudest  kind  of  log-cabins,  and  knew  no  other  money  than 
whiskey  and  the  skins  of  wild  beasts.  They  yielded  no  reve 
nue  to  the  States  claiming  their  allegiance,  and  were,  in  truth, 
but  nominally  under  the  authority  of  the  Legislatures.  ~No 
troops  were  stationed  among  them  to  enforce  obedience  to  the 
laws  of  the  land.  No  judges  ever  journeyed  to  them  to  cor 
rect  abuses,  to  mete  out  justice,  to  vindicate  the  majesty  of 
the  law.  But,  left  to  themselves,  the  people  administered  a 
prompt  and  rude  justice  with  the  knife  and  the  gun.  Up  to 
1784  these  lands  had  been  little  more  than  a  source  of  conten 
tion  and  strife.  But  a  use,  it  was  thought,  had  at  last  been 
found  for  them.  The  States  should  relinquish  all  claim,  and 
vest  all  rights  to  them  in  Congress. 

The  territory  thus  acquired,  it  was  promised,  should  be 
cut  up  into  States  and  sold,  and  the  money  applied  to  the  pay 
ment  of  the  public  debt.  The  sale  would  of  necessity  be  slow, 
and  the  sums  yielded  for  many  years  to  come  small.  But  the 


1784.  THE  IMPOST. 

reduction  of  the  debt  would  go  on  steadily,  and  the  interest 
must,  in  the  mean  time,  be  provided  for.  It  was,  therefore, 
further  urged  to  bestow  upon  Congress  a  fixed  and  sure  reve 
nue  to  be  used  for  the  payment  of  the  interest.  This,  it  was 
acknowledged,  was  asking  for  a  great  deal  of  power.  But  it 
was  alleged  in  defence,  and  supported  by  statistics  drawn 
from  the  books  of  the  Financier,  that  the  system  then  in  use 
of  portioning  out  the  expenses  of  government,  and  leaving 
each  State  to  collect  its  share  of  the  burden  in  its  own  way 
and  in  its  own  good  time,  had  signally  failed.  Every  year  the 
States  had  been  growing  more  and  more  dilatory  in  the  pay 
ment  of  their  quotas.  Every  year  the  interest  on  the  debt 
had,  in  consequence,  been  steadily  growing  larger  and  larger, 
till  now  more  than  three  millions  of  dollars  remained  unpaid. 
It  was  not  surprising,  then,  that  the  ministers  were  constantly 
sending  home  the  disheartening  intelligence  that  the  credit  of 
the  country  had  fallen  so  low  that  money  could  not  be  bor 
rowed  in  the  name  of  the  United  States  on  any  exchange  in 
Europe.  What  wonder  was  it  that  the  French  Government, 
justly  incensed  at  the  failure  to  pay  so  much  as  the  interest 
on  the  sums  so  generously  loaned,  was  becoming  clamorous  for 
payment  of  the  principal  ?  ~No  American  doubted  for  a  mo 
ment  that  the  debt  would  be  paid,  interest  and  principal,  to 
the  very  last  farthing.  But  this  failure  to  meet  the  interest 
was  only  increasing  the  load  so  hard  to  be  borne.  The  trouble 
lay  not  in  the  inability  of  the  people  to  pay  their  taxes,  but 
in  the  bad  method  of  collecting  them.  A  revenue  system 
should  at  once  be  established. 

Of  the  many  ways  through  which  a  sure  revenue  might  be 
made  to  flow  into  the  treasury,  none  seemed  to  the  supporters 
of  Congress  so  desirable  as  an  impost.  This  they  vehemently 
urged ;  and  that  the  duty  thus  to  be  imposed  might  fall  on  the 
rich,  rather  than  on  the  poor,  special  rates  were  to  be  estab 
lished  for  many  articles  in  general  use.  Some  difficulty  was 
at  first  encountered  in  determining  what  these  articles  should 
be ;  but  a  careful  examination  of  the  records  of  importation 
was  made,  and  seven  classes  of  goods  at  last  chosen.*  These 
eeven  were  liquors,  sugars,  teas,  coffees,  cocoa,  molasses,  and 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  April  18,  1783. 


142          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

pepper.  The  tax  on  each  was  to  be  determined  by  the  amount 
imported,  and  the  amounts  yearly  imported  were  so  small  that 
they  would  move  a  smile  among  the  officials  accustomed  to 
the  immense  invoices  which  each  week,  nay,  which  each  day, 
pass  through  the  custom-houses  of  Boston  and  New  York. 
In  every  great  centre  of  commerce  and  of  trade  may  now  be 
found  many  small  importers,  brokers,  and  commission  mer 
chants,  who  each  year  import  and  sell  more  bags  of  coffee  and 
boxes  of  tea,  more  hogsheads  of  molasses  and  casks  of  wine, 
than  ninety-five  years  ago  were,  in  the  same  space  of  time, 
imported  by  all  the  merchants  in  the  thirteen  States.  'No 
wine  was  then  so  great  a  favorite  as  Madeira.  It  held  much 
the  same  place  that  is  now  accorded  to  champagne,  was  to  be 
found  on  the  table  of  every  man  of  wealth,  and  was  thought 
to  be  as  indispensable  at  every  dinner-party  as  the  sweet-cakes 
and  the  bowls  of  tea.  Yet  of  Madeira  but  one  hundred  thou 
sand  gallons  were  imported  in  the  course  of  a  twelvemonth. 
A  tax,  therefore,  of  twelve  ninetieths  of  a  dollar  the  gallon  was 
to  be  imposed,  and  on  all  other  wines  half  that  amount.  As 
Madeira  was  the  beverage  of  the  rich,  so  was  Jamaica  rum 
that  of  the  poor.  Scarce  anything  else  was  drunk  by  the  fish 
ermen  of  New  England,  or  by  the  artisans  and  rustics  who,  on 
long  winter  evenings,  assembled  round  the  huge  fireplaces  in 
the  taverns  where  the  logs  were  blazing,  to  listen  while  one  of 
their  number  expounded  true  Whig  principles,  and  pronounced 
vengeance  on  the  refugees  and  Tories.  It  was,  moreover,  ap 
plied  to  many  uses  since  usurped  by  alcohol.  Yet  it  was  be 
lieved  to  be  very  doubtful  whether  more  than  two  millions  of 
gallons  could  be  relied  upon  as  coming  into  the  country  each 
year.  The  tax  proposed  was  four  ninetieths  of  a  dollar  the 
gallon.  Of  teas  the  preference  for  Bohea  was  very  decided. 
More  than  twelve  times  as  much  of  this  brand  was  imported 
as  of  all  the  other  brands  put  together.  Yet  it  was  found, 
after  careful  examination,  that  but  a  little  over  one  pound  of 
Bohea  was  consumed  for  every  twelve  persons  in  the  country. 
Three  hundred  thousand  pounds  were  therefore  taken  as  the 
annual  importation,  and  each  taxed  at  six  ninetieths  of  a  dollar. 
Of  the  other  brands,  twenty-five  thousand  pounds  were  found 
to  be  as  much  as,  in  a  twelvemonth,  ever  came  over  from 


1784.  THE   SUPPLEMENTARY  FUNDS. 

China,  and  the  duty  was  fixed  at  twenty-four  ninetieths  of  a 
dollar.  This  was  the  heaviest  proposed  to  be  laid.  The 
lightest  was  one  half  of  one  ninetieth  of  a  dollar,  which  was  put 
on  each  pound  of  brown  sugar.  Loaf-sugar  was  to  be  taxed 
at  two  ninetieths  the  pound ;  all  other  sugars,  as  also  molasses 
and  coffee,  at  one  ninetieth  of  a  dollar  per  gallon  or  pound. 
Low  as  was  the  importation  of  tea,  that  of  coffee  was  lower 
still  by  a  third.  Indeed,  it  was  scarcely  used  outside  of  the 
great  cities.  Two  hundred  thousand  pounds  was  considered 
as  a  very  large  yearly  importation.  Of  molasses,  two  millions 
of  gallons  came  into  the  country  each  year.  A  few  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  these  were  consumed  as  food.  The  remainder 
were  hurried  to  the  Massachusetts  distilleries  and  there  made 
into  the  far-famed  New  England  rum,  which,  by  the  fishermen 
at  the  Grand  Banks,  was  thought  much  finer  than  the  best  that 
came  from  Jamaica.  All  other  goods  brought  into  any  port 
in  the  country  were  to  be  taxed  at  five  per  cent  of  their  value. 

This  impost,  it  was  rightly  judged,  would  meet  with  bitter 
and  violent  opposition.  No  pains,  therefore,  were  spared  to 
bring  over  the  States  into  whose  ports  the  dutiable  goods  were 
likely  to  be  brought.  It  was  distinctly  given  out  that  the 
revenue  yielded  by  the  measure  would  be  applied  to  the  pay 
ment  of  the  interest  on  the  national  debt,  and  to  nothing  else. 
The  impost  was  to  continue  for  twenty-five  years,  and  not  a 
day  longer.  The  collectors  of  the  revenue  were  to  be  ap 
pointed  by  each  State  for  its  own  ports. 

The  interest  on  the  public  debt  being  thus  disposed  of,  the 
attention  of  Congress  was  called  to  a  measure  providing  for 
the  current  expenses  of  the  Government.  The  system  then 
in  use  was  to  determine  the  gross  sum  needed  for  a  year,  and 
portion  it  out  among  the  States.  This  it  was  not  proposed  to 
alter  in  the  least,  but  it  was  thought  expedient  that  every 
State  should  establish  a  substantial  and  sufficient  revenue  for 
the  payment  of  its  quota.  Precisely  in  what  way  the  sum 
should  be  raised  the  framers  of  the  plan  did  not  so  much  as 
intimate.  That,  it  was  wisely  said,  was  a  matter  for  each  mem 
ber  of  the  Confederation  to  settle  in  such  way  as  it  thought 
best.  But,  said  the  opponents  of  the  measure,  the  expenses 
of  Government  are  never  the  same  for  two  years  running; 


144          THE   WEAKNESS   OF   THE   CONFEDEKATION.  CHAP.  n. 

the  quotas  will  therefore  vary,  being  some  years  more  and 
some  years  less.  The  revenue,  on  the  other  hand,  will  prob 
ably,  for  some  years  to  come,  remain  about  the  same.  The 
result  will  be  that  the  amount  assigned  to  a  State,  and  the 
money  provided  by  a  State,  will  never  balance.  Sometimes 
the  revenue  will  exceed  the  quota ;  sometimes  the  quota  will 
exceed  the  revenue,  and  so  the  State  will  at  all  times  be  a 
sufferer.  To  remove  this  objection,  which  seemed  to  have 
much  reason  on  its  side,  a  clause  was  inserted  stipulating  that 
when  the  fund  paid  into  the  treasury  by  any  State  was  greater 
than  the  amount  required,  the  overplus  should  be  returned ; 
but  that  when  a  deficiency  occurred,  it  should  be  immedi 
ately  made  up.  In  this  form  the  bill  passed  the  House. * 

These  two  resolutions,  that  recommending  an  impost,  and 
that  recommending  the  grant  of  what  was  popularly  called 
the  supplementary  funds,  made  up  the  revenue  system  of 
1783.  They  were  no  common  resolutions,  and  sent  to  the 
States  in  no  common  way.  They  formed  an  appeal  for  life, 
and  nothing  that  could  give  them  weight  with  considerate 
men  was  omitted.  With  them  went  forth  an  address,  a  batch 
of  papers  showing  the  nature  and  origin  of  the  debt  and  the 
meritorious  character  of  the  creditors,  copies  of  the  Newburg 
Addresses,  of  the  action  of  the  officers,  of  the  contracts  with 
the  French  King,  and  an  answer,  written  with  great  power  of 
argument  and  language,  to  the  objections  lodged  by  Rhode 
Island  against  the  revenue  system  of  two  years  before.  Madi 
son  drew  up  the  address.  Hamilton  wrote  the  answer.  There 
were,  the  States  were  told,  three  classes  of  creditors.  Chief 
among  them  was  Louis,  King  of  France.  In  an  hour  of  dire 
necessity,  when  every  resource  seemed  exhausted,  when  hope 
deferred  had  made  every  heart  sick,  Louis  had  stood  forth  the 
friend  of  the  States,  had  loaned  them  of  his  army  and  his 
treasures,  had  added  to  his  loans  most  bounteous  donations, 
and  had,  in  the  very  contracts  he  made,  manifested  his  mag 
nanimity.  Next  to  the  King  came  that  noble  army  of  heroes 
who  had  staked  their  fortunes  and  their  lives,  and  poured  out 
their  blood  like  water  for  the  good  cause,  and  who  now  asked 
but  so  much  of  their  just  dues  as  would  enable  them  to  lay 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  April  19,  1783. 


1784.  EEMARKS   BY   CALCA.  145 

down  the  sword  and  go  back,  with  the  means  of  getting  daily 
bread,  to  private  life.  Finally,  there  were  those  who  had 
cheerfully  loaned  their  money  to  the  State,  or  looked  on  with 
patience  while  their  property  was  taken  for  the  public  use. 
The  address  closed  with  an  urgent  entreaty  to  the  States  to 
remember  that  they  were  about  to  take  rank  with  the  nations 
of  the  earth,  and  to  set  such  an  example  as  would  save  the 
cause  of  republican  liberty  from  ignominy  and  shame.* 

No  stronger  appeal  was  ever  made  to  the  good  sense  of 
any  people.  But  it  fell  on  dull  ears.  The  plan  for  an  im 
post  and  the  supplementary  funds  had  now  been  before  the 
public  for  more  than  a  year.  The  consent  of  nine  States  was 
necessary  before  it  could  become  a  law.  Yet  sueh  was  the 
animosity  to  any  measure  likely  to  increase  the  powers  of 
Congress  that  but  twTo  States  had,  with  many  misgivings, 
yielded  a  reluctant  assent,  f 

Indeed,  nothing  that  Congress  was  able  to  do  could  silence 
the  grumblers,  who  filled  column  after  column  of  the  news 
papers  with  their  complaints.  This  impost,  said  one  of  them, 
who,  after  the  fashion  of  his  time,  wrote  under  the  signature 
of  Calca4  this  impost  brings  up  for  consideration  three  im 
portant  questions.  Is  it,  in  the  first  place,  wise  to  fund  the 
national  debt?  Is  it,  in  the  next  place,  wise,  after  having 
risked  everything  to  establish  thirteen  free  republics,  to  part 
with  everything  to  establish  one  great  sovereignty  ?  Is  it,  in 
the  last  place,  possible  that  such  funded  debt  and  such  all- 
ruling  sovereignty  can  be  made  compatible  with  liberty  and 
with  national  happiness  ?  To  fund  the  debt  is  simply  to  per 
petuate  it  by  paying  interest.  We  are  told,  it  is  true,  that 
this  funding,  this  impost,  is  to  go  on  for  twenty-five  years,  and 
no  longer.  But  what  reason  is  there  for  supposing  that  when 
the  twenty-five  years  have  come  and  gone  the  same  arguments 
will  not  be  urged  for  continuing  it  that  are  now  used  for 
establishing  it  ?  There  is  no  reason  whatever  to  suppose  such 
a  thing.  The  proposed  revenue  system  may  therefore  be 
looked  upon  and  reasoned  upon  as  a  perpetual  revenue.  Now, 

*  See  the  address  in  the  Journals  of  Congress, 
•f-  These  two  States  were  Virginia  and  North  Carolina. 
\  The  paper  was  printed  in  the  New  York  Packet  of  February  26,  1784. 
VOL.  i. — 11 


14:6          THE   WEAKNESS   OF   THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

what  are  the  consequences  of  such  a  revenue  ?  They  are,  said 
Calca,  to  be  learned  from  the  history  of  other  countries,  and 
with  rare  dexterity  he  chose  the  history  of  the  most  hateful  of 
all  countries  to  the  men  he  addressed — the  history  of  England. 
Debts  were  first  funded,  and  perpetual  revenues  first  granted 
to  the  supreme  power  in  England  after  her  great  revolution. 
It  is  proposed  to  fund  debts  and  grant  revenues  in  America 
after  her  great  revolution.  May  Heaven  avert  the  omen ! 
True,  indeed,  the  English  people,  under  the  system,  rapidly 
advanced  to  the  utmost  pinnacle  of  grandeur  and  power. 
But  all  this  merely  served  to  render  the  fall,  when  the  fall 
came,  more  ignominious  and  more  marked.  The  Government, 
armed  with  inexhaustible  riches,  became  all-powerful.  With 
power  came  abuse  of  power.  The  revenues  were  perverted 
and  made  the  prolific  parent  of  corruption.  Corruption  pro 
duced  extravagance  and  wastefulness;  then  recklessness  fol 
lowed,  and  recklessness  brought  on  a  general  war  in  Europe 
and  the  loss  of  her  colonies.  What  security  have  we,  what 
security  can  we  have,  that  the  same  baneful  effect  will  not 
attend  funding  in  America  ?  We  are  told  that  Congress  is 
annual,  that  the  King  is  perpetual.  But  even  if  Congress  be 
annual,  the  power  of  Congress  is  perpetual,  and  the  very  fact 
that  it  can  be  enjoyed  but  for  a  few  months  will  tend  to  make 
those  who  hold  it  all  the  more  heedless  and  reckless  in  its  use. 
There  is,  indeed,  a  good  political  maxim  which  should  be 
engraved  on  the  heart  of  every  freeman,  and  that  maxim  is 
that  difficulty  in  procuring  money  for  public  use  is  the  best, 
the  only  security,  for  a  proper  and  frugal  use  of  it.  How 
should  the  debt  be  paid  ?  Paid  as  the  Articles  of  Confeder 
ation  provide.  Because  now  and  then  a  State,  as  Rhode 
Island,  for  example,  does  not  pay,  or  is  slow  in  paying,  her 
quota,  that  is  no  argument  that  the  system  is  a  bad  one. 
These  failures  have  happened  in  war-times.  But  times  are 
now  changed,  and  there  is  no  likelihood  that  such  things 
will  again  come  to  pass.  The  public  land  in  the  West  should, 
he  thought,  be  sold.  The  cession  made  by  New  York  three 
years  ago  has  been  accepted.  That  made  by  Virginia  will  in 
all  probability  speedily  be  accepted,  and  the  sales  of  these  im 
mense  tracts  will  be  more  than  sufficient  to  extinguish  the  debt 


1784.  VIRGINIA   CEDES  HER   WESTERN   LANDS.  147 

In  much  the  same  spirit  was  the  complaint  of  A  Rough 
Hewer,*  who,  under  that  homely  signature,  expressed  the  feel 
ing  and  opinion  of  a  very  considerable  portion  of  the  com 
munity.  At  the  beginning  of  the  war,  said  he,  the  people 
acted  as  implicitly  up  to  the  various  recommendations  of  Con 
gress  as  if  they  believed  that  honorable  body  could  do  no 
wrong.  Now  the  people  act  as  if  they  think  Congress  can  do 
no  right.  It  is  not  far  to  go  for  the  reason.  In  the  war-times 
Congress  was  cautious.  Then  it  seemed  little  disposed  to  take 
risks,  and  much  disposed  to  let  things  slip  from  its  shoulders 
to  the  shoulders  of  the  Legislatures.  Now,  on  the  other  hand, 
Congress  acts  as  if  it  aimed  at  arrogating  to  itself  what  belongs 
to  the  sovereignty  of  the  people.  Congress  a  year  ago  recom 
mended  an  impost.  The  Legislature  of  Rhode  Island  has 
stoutly  refused  to  grant  this  impost,  and  the  refusal  has  given 
rise  to  two  performances  in  which  the  Rhode  Islanders  are 
held  up  in  a  wrong  light.  It  is  admitted  that  the  impost 
will  confer  great  power  on  Congress,  but  asserted  that  the  fre 
quent  rotation  of  members  will  prevent  an  abuse  of  power. 
This  is  a  great  mistake.  There  is  no  safety  in  frequent 
elections,  and,  if  the  States  venture  to  act  on  the  belief, 
they  will  some  day  in  the  future  find  out  that  the  boasted 
security  has  but  increased  their  encumbrances.  Rough  Hewer 
then  proceeded  to  illustrate  his  meaning  by  a  fable.  "  Friend," 
said  the  fox,  "  I  desire  you  by  no  means  to  disturb  these  hon 
est  blood-suckers  that  are  now  quartered  upon  me,  and  whose 
bellies  I  fancy  are  pretty  well  filled  ;  for  if  they  should  leave 
me,  a  fresh  swarm  would  take  their  places,  and  I  should  not 
have  a  drop  of  blood  left  in  my  body."  It  was  truly  painful 
to  see  Congress  grasping  at  a  power  which,  if  obtained,  would 
in  all  likelihood  prove  its  ruin. 

The  recommendation  touching  the  cession  of  western  lands 
met  with  a  better  fate.  Indeed,  it  is  not  a  little  curious  and 
interesting  to  observe  that  none  gave  so  willing  and  unre 
served  a  consent  as  the  States  from  which  a  violent  opposi- 

*  New  York  Packet,  February  26,  1784.  Rough  Hewer  was  the  signature 
Robert  Yates  put  to  many  papers  he  published  during  the  war.  The  sentiments  of 
this  paper  are  so  like  those  he  afterward  held  that  it  is  not  improbable  he  was 
the  author. 


148          THK   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  11. 

tion  had  most  reasonably  been  expected.  No  member  of  the 
Confederation  possessed  such  extensive,  such  rich,  such  popu 
lous  lands  in  the  west  as  Virginia.  Out  of  the  territory  then 
conceded  to  belong  to  her  have  been  formed  the  States  of 
Michigan  and  "Wisconsin,  and  so  much  of  Ohio,  of  Indiana, 
and  of  Illinois  as  lie  between  the  turbid  waters  of  the  Ohio 
and  the  forty -lirst  parallel  of  latitude.  The  great  valley  of 
the  Ohio  was  then,  it  is  true,  but  little  better  than  a  wilder 
ness.  It  waa  infested  by  roving  bunds  of  Indians.  It  swarmed 
with  wild  beasts.  Yet  the  fertility  of  the  soil  and  the  health- 
fulness  of  the  climate  had  attracted  great  numbers  of  immi 
grants,  who  had  already  marked  out  the  sites  of  many  ham 
lets  and  settlements  which  have  since  become  opulent  and 
mighty  cities.  At  the  head  of  the  river,  under  the  guns  of 
Fort  Pitt,  nestled  the  hundred  cabins  of  Pittsburg.  Further 
down,  on  a  tlat  that  spread  out  at  the  foot  of  a  low  range  of 
hills,  were  the  squalid  huts  which  marked  the  site  of  the  village 
of  Losantiville,"x"  whose  name  St.  (Mair,  six  years  later,  changed 
to  Cincinnati,  in  honor  of  the  great  society  whose  blue  ribbon 
he  wore.  Still  nearer  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  hard  by  the 
spot  where  its  waters  plunge  down  a  ledge  of  limestone  rock 
to  make  the  falls  of  the  Ohio,  were  the  three  streets  and  the 
cluster  of  cabins  that  bore  the  name  of  Louisville,  renowned 
through  all  the  lower  valley  as  the  only  hamlet  that  could 
boast  of  a  store.f  The  site  of  Ymcennes  had  been  marked  out, 


*  Tlu»  village  of  Losuntivillo  was  not  laid  out  till  178S,  but  houses  had  boon 
going  up  on  the  site  since  1780.  "  On  the  first  day  of  August,  17SO,"  says  Yick- 
roy,  "we  crossed  the  Ohio  river  and  built  the  two  block-houses  where  Cincinnati 
now  stands."  Albach,  Western  Annals,  p.  ;»iM.  When  the  town  was  laid  out  in 
1788,  the  name  Losantiville  was  given  it  by  Filson,  a  pedantic  school-master.  He 
compounded  the  word  of  »•///<•,  the  town;  anti,  opposite ;  ON,  the  mouth;  A,  the 
Licking;  so  that  Losantiville,  being  interpreted,  meant  the  town  opposite  the 
mouth  of  the  Licking.  See  Perkins's  Annals  of  the  West,  pp.  825,  !>Ut>.  'Cincin 
nati  Directory  for  181S>,  p.  18;  also,  Cist's  Cincinnati. 

f  Some  facts  regarding  Louisville  may  be  hail  from  Casseday's  History  of 
Louisville.  The  place,  it  seems,  was  first  settled  in  177:5,  and  called  the  Heargrass 
Settlement.  But  when,  in  the  spring  of  1780,  three  hundred  flat-boats,  bringing 
six  hundred  immigrants,  came  down  the  Ohio  and  settled  at  Beat-grass,  the  place 
became  so  important  that  the  Virginia  Assembly,  in  May,  1780,  "established  the 
town  of  Louisville  at  the  falls  of  Ohio."  One  authority  (Western  Annals,  p. 
419)  asserts  that  in  178-1  the  town  contained  "sixty-three  houses  finished,  thirty- 
seven  partly  finished,  twenty-two  raised  but  not  covered,  and  more  than  otic  him- 


1784.         SETTLEMENTS   ALONG   THE   OHIO   VALLEY. 

and  of  Limestone,  better  known  to  ns  as  Maysville.  A  fort 
had  been  built  at  the  month  of  the  Great  Miami.  Some  rude 
dwellings  had  gone  up  at  Clarksville,  called  after  the  distin 
guished  soldier  who  had  founded  the  district  of  Kentucky, 
had  conquered  Kaskaskia,  and  explored  the  river  to  the  Mis 
sissippi,  while  along  the  banks  of  the  W abash  and  the  Great 
Miami  were  the  block-houses  of  many  hunters  and  trappers. 
All  this  had  been  the  work  of  a  few  years.  In  177!)  there 
were,  it  was  said,  in  the  whole  Kentucky  district  but  one  hun 
dred  arid  seventy-six  white  men.*  In  1784  these  numbers 
had  gone  far  up  into  the  thousands,  and  each  month  hundreds 
of  immigrants  came  over  the  mountains  from  Carolina,  or 
down  the  Ohio  from  Pittsburg.f  Wheatfields  and  cornfields 
and  orchards  began  to  spring  up  in  every  direction,  and  al 
ready  the  wagons  that  brought  out  merchandise  from  Phila 
delphia  went  back  laden  with  grain. 


dred  cabins.  Hut  another  and  a  bettor  authority,  who  saw  it  in  1787,  says  that 
the  town  was  laid  out  in  three  streets,  parallel,  but  oblique  to  the  river,  and  con 
sisted  of  about  one  hundred  buildings.  See  a  letter  in  Pennsylvania  Gazette, 
March  29,  1787.  The  first  store  in  the  place  was  opened  in  the  spring  of  1783. 
The  goods  came  in  wagons  from  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia,  by  way  of  Ligonier 
and  Cumberland  to  Redstone-Old-Fort  and  Pittsburg,  and  then  went  down  the 
river  in  flat-boats  to  Louisville.  In  1784  another  store  was  opened  at  Lexington. 
Albach's  Western  Annals,  p.  419. 

.*  The  rapidity  with  which  hamlets  and  settlements  in  the  Ohio  valley  grew  to 
be  towns  and  cities  has  no  parallel  in  the  history  of  America,  unless,  indeed,  it  be 
in  California.  The  settlement  of  California  was  due  to  unusual  and  exceptional 
causes.  The  settlement  of  Kentucky  was  in  the  natural  course  of  immigration. 
The  population  of  California  increased  with  marvellous  rapidity  fora  time,  stopped, 
fell  back,  and  has  since  grown  but  slowly.  The  population  along  the  Ohio  has 
from  the  first  gone  on  doubling  and  tripling  every  few  years.  Indeed,  it  appears 
by  the  census  of  1880  that  more  than  one  of  the  cities  of  that  region  has,  within 
the  last  ten  years,  increased  the  number  of  its  inhabitants  by  more  than  seventy 
per  cent.  Monette,  in  his  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  vol.  ii,  p.  1415,  asserts  that 
in  1783  the  population  of  all  the  Kentucky  settlements  w;is  upward  of  12,00<Ji> 
and  that  by  the  spring  of  17H1  it  was  20,000.  My  authority  for  the  statement 
that  in  177'J  there  were  but  170  white  men  in  Kentucky  is  a  letter  in  the  Penn 
sylvania  Ga/ette  of  March  2'.),  1787,  written  by  a  gentleman  at  Fort  Fenny. 
His  facts  were  undoubtedly  gathered  from  good  sources.  The-  rage  for  western 
emigration  is  noticed  by  John  Jay  in  a  letter  to  W.  Bingharn,  May  81,  1785  ;  also, 
in  one  to  Lafayette,  January  11),  1785. 

f  In  1784  thirty  thousand  immigrants  are  said  to  have  come  from  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina.  Western  Annals,  p.  419.  This  must  be  understood  to  mean 
not  thirty  thousand,  but  a  very  great  many. 


150          THE   WEAKNESS   OF   THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

The  value  of  these  lands  was  therefore,  at  that  time,  be 
lieved  to  be  very  great,  and  if  any  reliance  was  to  be  placed 
in  human  foresight,  it  was  certain  that  this  value  would  con 
stantly  increase.  When,  however,  the  bill  to  cede  them  to 
Congress  was  brought  into  the  Virginia  House  of  Deputies, 
in  the  autumn  of  1783,  it  passed  with  small  opposition,  and 
early  in  the  following  March  the  deed  was  delivered.  Some 
mutterings  of  dissatisfaction  were  indeed  heard,  but  they 
came,  in  general,  from  beyond  the  mountains,  and  were  little 
heeded.  A  few  malcontents,  on  the  other  hand,  while  they 
brought  forward  no  valid  objections  to  the  cession,  ridiculed 
the  idea  of  there  being  anything  to  cede.  Where,  they  asked, 
did  Virginia  get  her  right  and  title  to  the  lands  she  now  pro 
posed  so  generously  to  give  away  ?  There  was,  they  owned, 
some  semblance  of  a  title  on  paper  which  had  been  carefully 
preserved  among  the  colonial  records ;  but  it  was  well  known 
to  be  a  semblance  to  a  title,  and  nothing  more,  and  could  not 
bear  the  test  of  a  search  half  so  careful  as  that  usually  given 
to  the  title  to  an  estate. 

The  sneers  and  the  sarcasm  of  these  men  would  perhaps 
have  been  as  little  regarded  as  the  mutterings  that  came  up 
from  the  district  of  Kentucky  and  the  regions  that  lay  along 
the  banks  of  the  Miami  and  the  Ohio,  had  they  not  been  set 
forth  with  all  the  ingenuity,  asperity,  and  wit  at  the  command 
of  the  most  consummate  master  of  pamphleteering  the  age 
had  produced.  We  doubt  whether  any  name  in  our  revolu 
tionary  history,  not  excepting  that  of  Benedict  Arnold,  is 
quite  so  odious  as  the  name  of  Thomas  Paine.  Arnold  was  a 
traitor.  Paine  was  an  infidel.  Indeed,  the  terms  in  which 
he  is  commonly  described,  and  the  epithets  which  are  com 
monly  heaped  upon  him,  should  seem  to  imply  that  of  all 
infidels  Paine  was  the  blackest,  and  that  since  the  day  when 
the  "  Age  of  Eeason  "  came  forth  from  the  press  the  number 
of  infidels  has  increased  much  more  rapidly  than  it  did  before 
that  book  was  written.  The  truth  is,  he  was  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  men  of  his  time.  It  would  be  a  difficult  matter 
to  find  anywhere  another  such  compound  of  baseness  and 
nobleness,  of  goodness  and  badness,  of  greatness  and  little 
ness  ;  of  so  powerful  a  mind  left  unbalanced,  and  led  astray 


1784.  CHARACTER   OF  THOMAS   PAINE.  151 

by  the  worst  of  animal  passions.  At  one  time  arguing  and 
disputing  in  behalf  of  his  adopted  countrymen,  cheering 
them  in  the  dark  hour  of  distress,  and  instilling  the  best 
and  noblest  of  principles,  he  at  another  urges  them  to  the 
acceptance  of  principles  which,  if  once  adopted,  would  have 
destroyed  all  that  is  most  sacred  in  life,  and  sunk  them  in 
depths  of  misery.  The  contrast  between  the  man  and  his 
work  is  indeed  great.  Of  all  the  human  kind  he  was  the 
filthiest  and  the  nastiest,  and  his  disgusting  habits  grew  upon 
him  with  his  years.  In  his  old  age,  when  the  frugal  gifts  of 
two  States  which  remembered  his  good  work  had  placed  him 
beyond  immediate  want,  he  became  a  sight  to  behold.  It  was 
rare  that  he  was  sober ;  it  was  still  rarer  that  he  washed  him 
self,  and  he  suffered  his  nails  to  grow  till,  in  the  language  of 
one  who  knew  him  well,  they  resembled  the  claws  of  birds. 
What  gratitude  was  he  did  not  know.  For  his  word  he  had 
scarcely  more  regard  than  for  his  oath ;  and  his  oath  he  had 
repeatedly  violated  when  he  held  offices  of  trust.  To  con 
tempt  and  shame,  even  when  heaped  upon  him  in  the  most 
public  way,  he  was  utterly  callous,  and  still  continued  to  toil 
on  unrewarded  in  the  cause  of  those  who  had  insulted  him. 
Yet  this  man  undertook  and  accomplished  a  work  as  important 
and  as  necessary  to  the  success  of  the  Revolution  as  any  of  the 
victories  won  by  the  skill  of  Washington  or  Gates.  Paine 
was  by  birth  an  Englishman.  He  sprang  from  that  great 
middle  class  whence  have  come  so  many  Englishmen  re 
nowned  in  science,  in  literature,  in  art.  His  mother  was  the 
daughter  of  a  well-to-do  country  attorney ;  his  father  was  a 
Quaker  and  a  stay-maker.  But  the  disposition  and  the  parts 
of  Thomas  were  inherited  from  neither  parent.  Of  all  the 
boys  in  Thetford  he  was  the  most  idle  and  shiftless.  At 
thirteen  he  was  taken  from  the  free  school  and  set  to  make 
stays  in  his  father's  shop ;  and  from  that  time  forth  to  the 
day  when,  fifty-nine  years  later,  he  lay  down,  hated  and 
despised,  to  die  in  misery  and  filth,  his  life  was  stranger  than 
a  fiction.  Indeed,  it  would  furnish  materials  for  innumer 
able  fictions.  From  his  father's  shop  he  went  to  London. 
There  he  fell  in  with  some  companions  who  gave  him  such 
a  glowing  story  of  the  fortunes  to  be  made  at  sea  that,  at 


152          THE   WEAKNESS   OF   THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  irs 

twenty-two,  lie  became  a  f oremastman  on  a  privateer.  But 
the  hard  fare,  the  still  harder  work,  and  the  strict  discipline 
on  board  the  King  of  Prussia,  were  little  to  the  taste  of 
Paine,  and  he  soon  settled  at  Sandwich.  There  he  made  the 
acquaintance  of  a  pretty  girl,  fell  in  love  with  her,  and  urged 
his  suit  so  successfully  that,  under  a  promise  of  marriage,  he 
borrowed  ten  pounds,  and  set  himself  up  as  a  master  stay- 
maker.  This  venture  brought  him  nothing  but  debt,  and  as 
his  mistress  would  loan  him  no  more  money,  he  broke  with 
her,  married  the  daughter  of  an  exciseman,  and  went  to  Mar 
gate.  His  wife  soon  died  of  ill  treatment ;  and  from  Margate 
he  went  to  London,  and  from  London  wandered  back  once 
more  to  his  father's  shop,  where  he  made  stays  till  his  father- 
in-law  found  him  a  place  in  the  excise ;  but,  after  some  years, 
the  temptations  of  the  excise  were  too  great  for  Paine,  and 
he  was,  in  1774:,  dismissed  for  a  gross  abuse  of  trust.  He  then, 
in  conjunction  with  a  widow,  started  a  green-grocery  shop 
at  Lewes,  and  married  her  daughter ;  but  the  grocery  shop, 
like  the  stay-making  business,  soon  overwhelmed  him  in  debt. 
Meanwhile  his  wife,  weary  of  his  abuse  and  his  blows,  left 
him.  And  now,  separated  from  his  wife,  his  place  in  the 
excise  gone,  his  shop  taken  from  him,  Paine,  in  the  depths  of 
poverty,  turned  his  steps  once  more  to  London ;  and  there 
Franklin  met  him,  a  wretched,  half-starved,  Grub-street  hack. 
He  had  by  some  means  obtained  a  letter  to  the  great  philoso 
pher,  besought  him  piteously  for  aid,  and  was  strongly  rec 
ommended  to  go  to  America.  The  advice  so  well  suited  his 
roving  disposition  that  he  took  it,  and  landed  in  Philadelphia 
in  1775,  a  few  months  before  the  affair  at  Lexington.  Again 
he  had  recourse  to  his  pen,  and  speedily  became  the  editor  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Magazine.  The  country  was  then  in  the 
wildest  disorder.  It  seemed  impossible  that  the  govern 
ment  of  England  could  longer  be  borne  in  peace  and  quiet. 
~No  act  of  separation  had  yet  taken  place.  But  the  time 
had  come  for  a  bold  and  decisive  blow,  and  Paine  was,  in 
the  opinion  of  Dr.  Rush,  precisely  the  man  to  give  it.  He 
waited  upon  Paine,  and  urged  him  to  prepare  a  strong  pam 
phlet  recommending  separation  from  England.  The  bargain 
was  soon  struck.  Paine  agreed  to  write  the  pamphlet ;  Dr. 


1784.  CHARACTER   OF  THOMAS   PAINE.  153 

Rush  agreed  to  find  the  publisher,  which  was  at  that  time 
no  easy  matter.  An  obscure  printer  was,  however,  found 
who  would  take  the  risk  of  publication,  and  "  Common  Sense  " 
was  given  to  the  public.*  It  is  hard  for  us,  after  the  lapse  of 
a  hundred  and  seven  years,  to  form  a  just  appreciation  of  the 
effect  of  this  production.  But  it  must  have  been  immense ; 
nor  is  it  too  much  to  say  that  "  Common  Sense  "  did  for  the 
revolution  what  the  "  Federalist "  did  for  the  Constitution. 
Innumerable  copies  were  printed,  and  for  years  thereafter 
the  fact  had  only  to  be  known  that  a  pamphlet  or  a  news 
paper  letter  was  by  the  author  of  "  Common  Sense  "  to  secure 
for  it  a  wide  circulation  and  a  careful  perusal.  Paine  had 
now  found  the  one  sphere  in  which  he  could  be  useful.  His 
pen,  in  fact,  soon  became  as  necessary  to  the  cause  as  the 
army.  Perhaps  the  darkest  days  in  all  the  war  were  those 
which  immediately  followed  the  defeat  on  Long  Island  and 
the  retreat  of  Washington  through  New  York.  Then  all 
seemed  lost.  Despondency  was  in  every  face  ;  the  army  was 
hourly  diminished  by  desertion  ;  the  Tories  were  exultant. 
But  Paine  again  came  to  the  help  of  the  good  cause  in  the 
"  Crisis."  The  effect  was  immediate.  The  desertion  ceased, 
the  depleted  ranks  filled  up,  men  became  more  hopeful  than 
ever.  The  "  Crisis  "  was  everywhere  read  and  admired,  and 
whole  pages  of  it  committed  to  memory.  One  passage  in 
particular  was  a  great  favorite,  passed  into  the  common  lan 
guage  of  the  market  and  the  street,  and,  continuing  to  our 
own  day,  is  still  heard  from  the  lips  of  those  who  have  never 
read  the  pamphlet,  who  know  nothing  of  Paine  except  that 
he  was  an  infidel,  and  are  utterly  ignorant  that  to  him  is  to 
be  ascribed  the  famous  line :  "  These  are  the  times  that  try 
men's  souls."  The  next  year  he  was  made  Secretary  of  the 
Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  by  Congress.  This  he  held 
for  two  years,  during  which  he  continued,  on  every  impor 
tant  occasion,  to  put  forth  numbers  of  the  "  Crisis  "  till  they 
reached  fifteen.  In  17Y9  he  became  involved  in  the  Silas 
Deane  affair,  and  in  an  evil  hour  made  so  scandalous  a  breach 
of  trust  that  he  was  ignominiously  dismissed.  Four  years 

*  Common  Sense  appeared  in  January,  1776.    American  Remembrancer,  1776, 
Part  i,  pp.  238-241. 


154          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP,  n. 

later,  when  Congress  sat  in  Nassau  Hall,  Washington,  who 
could  not  forget  the  good  services  Paine  had  done  in  days 
gone  by,  suggested  that  the  illustrious  author  of  "  Common 
Sense  "  be  rewarded  with  the  office  of  Historiographer  of  the 
United  States.  A  motion  to  the  purpose  was  made  in  Con 
gress,  but  was  received  with  such  an  outburst  of  indignation 
that  the  unlucky  mover  made  all  haste  to  withdraw  it.  The 
remembrance  of  the  Silas  Deane  letter  was  yet  fresh.  A  year 
later  Washington  once  more  sought  to  obtain  some  reward 
for  him  from  the  Legislature  of  Virginia.  He  wrote  a  strong 
letter  to  Madison,  and  Madison  warmly  supported  the  motion 
in  the  House  of  Deputies ;  but  it  was  twice  thrown  out,  for 
Paine  had  again  stood  in  his  own  light.  He  had  published 
a  pamphlet  called  "  Public  Good,"  in  which  he  denied  the 
claim  of  Virginia  to  the  lands  beyond  the  mountains.  The 
sting  of  the  pamphlet,  which  was  not  written  in  the  author's 
best  style,  nor  with  his  usual  force  of  argument,  soon  wore 
off;  but  the  recollection  of  it  long  rankled  in  the  minds  of  a 
set  of  narrow  men  who,  having  kept  him  out  of  a  fine  estate 
and  several  thousand  pounds  of  money,  lost  no  opportunity  to 
blacken  his  memory  and  his  name.* 

At  the  same  time  that  the  representatives  of  Virginia 
were  instructed  to  prepare  the  deed  of  cession  they  were 
bidden  to  vote  for  the  impost.  The  news  of  the  passage  of 
this  act  was  received  with  much  indignation  and  surprise. 
For  nowhere  did  goods  from  over  the  sea  find  a  more  ready 
sale  than  in  the  markets  of  Virginia.  From  time  immemo 
rial  the  lords  of  the  Virginia  manor-houses  had  been  accus 
tomed  to  look  to  the  Old  World  for  the  stuffs  for  their 
coats,  their  house-furniture,  and  their  wines.  Nor  had  the 
taste  for  such  luxuries,  thus  handed  down  for  many  genera 
tions,  been  at  all  lessened  by  the  poverty  occasioned  by  the 
calamities  of  war.  It  was  still  as  strong  as  ever,  and  must 
be  gratified,  whatever  the  cost.  Could  the  money  be  had  in 
no  other  way,  more  acres  must  be  laid  out  in  tobacco.  Some 
of  the  plant  which  in  colonial  days  would  have  been  burned 

*  The  sources  of  information  touching  the  life  and  character  of  Paine  are : 
Life  of  Thomas  Paine,  by  Cheetham,  vol.  i,  1817;  Letter  of  Washington,  June 
12,  1784;  Letter  of  Madison,  July  2,  1784. 


1784.  NORTH   CAROLINA   CEDES  TENNESSEE.  155 

in  the  presence  of  the  inspector  as  too  bad  for  the  market 
might  now,  under  a  free  government,  be  smuggled  in  with  the 
finest  leaves  and  command  a  high  price.  If,  indeed,  the  worst 
came  to  the  worst,  a  wench  might  be  hired  out  to  service,  or 
sent  to  the  nearest  mart  and  sold.  Virginia  therefore  stood 
first  on  the  list  of  importing  States.  Ships  from  Spain,  from 
Madeira,  and  the  Indies  were  constantly  going  in  and  out  of 
her  ports.  Her  importations  amounted  to  hundreds  of  thou 
sands  of  dollars  yearly.  It  was  under  such  circumstances  not 
unnatural  that  factious  and  discontented  persons  should  mut 
ter,  that  they  were  quite  at  a  loss  to  know  on  what  principle 
of  good  government  Virginia  should  at  one  and  the  same 
moment  give  away  her  rich  possessions  in  the  northwest,  and 
consent  to  an  impious  tax  which  would  press  on  no  men  so 
heavily  as  on  her  own  citizens. 

Yet  the  example  set  by  Virginia  was  speedily  followed 
by  a  near  neighbor.  North  Carolina  was  also  the  owner  of 
great  estates  lying  beyond  the  western  foot  hills  of  the  Blue 
Kidge  Mountains,  and  which,  green  with  woods  and  waving 
grass,  sloped  gently  down  to  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi  and 
the  Tennessee.  A  handful  of  adventurers  in  the  autumn  of 
1758  had  crossed  the  mountains,  had  gone  down  into  the  wil 
derness,  had  made  clearings,  had  driven  out  the  Indians,  had 
founded  a  settlement,  and  had  sent  back  such  glowing  ac 
counts  of  the  richness  of  the  soil  that  numbers  of  immigrants 
followed  them.  At  length,  after  the  lapse  of  twenty-six  years, 
a  population  of  upward  of  ten  thousand  souls  was  gathered  in 
the  region  lying  between  the  Holston,  the  Cumberland,  and 
the  hills.*  But  the  country  was  still  sparsely  settled,  and 
those  splendid  pastures,  verdant  even  beyond  the  verdure  of 
Kansas,  which  now  feed  some  of  the  finest  cattle  in  all  our 
land,  were  then  a  virgin  soil,  over  which  each  year  the  Chick- 
asaws  and  Cherokees,  hideous  in  paint  and  feathers,  chased 
great  herds  of  buffaloes  and  deer.  The  colony  was  indeed  lit 
tle  more  than  a  source  of  expense  to  the  parent  State.  Yet 
it  was  deemed  of  much  importance,  and  was  permitted  each 
year  to  send  deputies  to  the  Legislature  of  North  Carolina. 

In  the  spring  of  1784  the  Assembly  was  in  session  at  Ilills- 

*  Albach's  Western  Annals,  p.  £07. 


156          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION".  CHAP.  n. 

borough,  a  small  town  hard  by  the  banks  of  one  of  the 
branches  of  the  Neuse  river.  Much  business  had  been  before 
it,  but  time  had  been  found  to  take  into  consideration  the 
three  requests  of  Congress.  Early  in  April  the  supplementary 
funds  and  the  impost  had  been  discussed  and  acceded  to.  The 
impost  had  been  unreservedly  granted  ;  a  special  tax  had  also 
"oeen  laid,  and,  to  the  surprise  of  many,  authority  given  to 
Congress  to  collect  it.  It  was  not,  however,  till  June  that  a 
bill  providing  for  the  session  of  the  western  land  was  laid  on 
the  table  of  the  House.  This  bill  made  over  to  the  national 
Government  the  twenty-nine  millons  of  acres  of  rich  grass-land 
and  woodland  out  of  which,  twelve  years  later,  a  new  State 
was  made  and  named  from  the  great  river  whose  huge  bend 
prompted  the  Indians  to  bestow  upon  it  the  appellation  of  the 
Tennessee.  Two  years  were  given  to  Congress  wherein  to 
accept  the  grant.  Meanwhile  the  authority  of  North  Carolina 
was  to  be  supreme.  A  few  days  after  the  bill  became  a  law 
the  House  rose,  and  the  deputies  from  the  ceded  counties  im 
mediately  set  out  for  home. 

The  way  was  long.  The  road  was  so  bad,  and,  as  it  ap 
proached  the  Bald  Mountains,  so  tortuous  and  steep,  that  the 
summer  was  wellnigh  spent  ere  they  reached  the  Holston, 
bringing  with  them  the  first  intelligence  of  the  cession  act. 
There  was  then  no  newspaper,  nay,  no  printing-press,  west  of 
the  mountains.*  The  news  was  therefore  carried  from  set 
tlement  to  settlement  by  word  of  mouth,  and  as  it  spread,  the 
fears  and  indignation  of  the  people  increased.  It  was  evident, 
they  said,  in  what  estimation  they  were  held  by  their  friends 
of  the  tide-water  region.  Their  calls  for  money  had  been  met 
with  charges  of  extravagance.  Their  calls  for  greater  protec 
tion  had  at  first  been  coldly  disregarded,  and  had  now  been 
answered  by  taking  away  what  little  protection  had  before 
been  grudgingly  given. 

Could  any  region  in  the  whole  country  be  pointed  out  which 
needed  protection,  and  a  strong  protection,  more  ?  The  set 
tlements  swarmed  with  men  who,  in  the  east,  had  avowed  by 


*  The  first  newspaper  printed  in  the  State  was  the  Knoxville  Gazette.  The 
first  copy  bears  date  November  5,  1791.  See  also  T.  W.  Hume's  Semi-Centennial 
Address  ;  Ramsey's  History  of  Tennessee,  p.  557. 


1784.          THE  FIRST   CONVENTION  AT  JONESBORO.  157 

their  actions  an  utter  disregard  of  law  and  order.  Refugees 
who  had  been  proscribed  and  hunted  from  their  homes  as  out 
casts  of  society ;  thieves  and  cutthroats  who  had  broken  jail 
or  escaped  from  the  clutches  of  the  law ;  men  who  had  mur 
dered  their  rivals  in  duels,  or  run  them  through  the  body  in 
the  dark,  were  constantly  seeking  an  asylum  on  the  Ilolston. 
Yet  no  supreme  court  had  been  established.  Violations  of  law 
were  unpunished  'except  by  the  summary  processes  of  the 
regulators  whom  the  people  had,  in  self-defence,  been  com 
pelled  to  appoint.  The  Cherokees  again  were  restless  and 
aggressive.  They  might  at  any  moment  dig  up  the  hatchet, 
put  on  the  war-paint,  dance  the  war-dance,  and  sweep  through 
the  settlements,  burning,  killing,  and  scalping.  This  was  not 
only  possible,  but  highly  probable.  Yet  how  were  the  people 
to  defend  themselves  ?  There  were  indeed  a  few  companies 
of  militia.  But  they  were  without  organization,  and,  what 
worse,  without  a  cominander,  for  no  brigadier-general 
appointed  who  could,  at  a  moment's  notice,  call 
into  service.  There  was  fortunately  one  sovereign 
left,  a  remedy  which  under  any  other  circumstances 
they  should  be  loath  to  apply,  and  that  was,  for  the  people  to 
waste  no  more  time  in  petitioning  a  body  of  men  glad  to  get 
rid  of  them,  but  take  matters  into  their  own  hands.  For  if 
they  failed  to  protect  themselves,  who  was  it  that  would  pro 
tect  them  ?  Not  Congress,  surely,  for  Congress  had  not  yet, 
and  very  likely  never  would  accept  them.  Not  the  home  Leg 
islature,  for  if  that  body  had  rendered  little  assistance  in  the 
past  it  was  sheer  folly  to  expect  it  to  do  anything  in  the  two 
years  to  come,  during  which  their  fate  would  be  undecided. 
These  two  years  would  inevitably  be  times  of  anarchy  and 
destruction  unless  the  settlers  availed  themselves  of  the  rem 
edy,  and  that  speedily. 

This  advice  was  most  acceptable,  and  representatives  were 
soon  assembled  in  each  of  the  counties.  They  were  gravely, 
soberly,  and  with  patience,  to  consider  the  state  into  which 
public  affairs  were  come,  and  recommend  some  general  course 
of  action.  Many  plans  were  discussed,  but  the  unanimous 
sense  of  the  meeting  was  that  a  general  election  should  take 
place,  that  deputies  should  be  chosen  in  the  four  counties,  and 


158          THE  WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

that  they  should  meet  at  an  early  day  at  Jonesboro  with  full 
power  to  adopt  such  measures  as  the  times  required.  Not  a 
moment  was  lost  in  acting  on  this  recommendation,  and  on 
the  twenty-third  of  August  the  delegates  were  assembled  in  a 
log  cabin.  "When  the  credentials  were  examined  it  was  found 
that  representatives  were  come  from  the  three  counties  of 
Washington,  Greene,  and  Sullivan.  None  came  from  David 
son.  Again  the  evils  complained  of  were  discussed  and  the 
sufferings  of  the  people  gone  over.  Many  remedies  were 
brought  forward,  debated,  and  the  sense  of  the  delegates  taken. 
In  the  course  of  these  discussions  a  number  of  suggestions 
were  brought  out  which  agreed  so  thoroughly  with  the  senti 
ments  of  all  present  that  they  were  finally  reduced  to  the  form 
of  a  resolution.*  This  set  forth  as  the  sense  of  the  assembly 
that  the  three  counties  represented  should  be  formed  into  a 
new  State ;  that  so  far  as  possible  the  laws  of  North  Carolina 
should  be  laws  of  the  State ;  that  it  was  the  undivided  opin 
ion  of  the  assembly  that  it  would  be  lawful  to  hold  a  conven 
tion,  that  it  would  be  lawful  for  that  convention  to  prescribe 
such  regulations  as  circumstances  required,  and  to  petition 
Congress  to  accept  the  cession  and  admit  the  new  State  to  the 
Union.  No  sooner  had  this  been  passed  than  a  member  was 
dispatched  to  the  door  of  the  hut  to  make  it  known  to  the 
crowd  of  trappers  and  backwoodsmen  who  impatiently  awaited 
without. f  The  shouts  which  followed  the  reading  of  the  res 
olution  announced  to  the  delegates  that  they  had  acted  well. 

But  the  shouts  of  joy  sent  up  by  a  crowd  of  unthinking 
men  in  a  moment  of  excitement  was  no  sure  indication  that 
the  resolution  would  be  welcomed  with  equal  pleasure  by  the 
multitude.  The  thousands  yet  to  hear  of  and  discuss  it  might 
receive  it  with  bitter  condemnation,  might  think  the  remedy 
worse  than  the  disease,  and  seek  refuge  beyond  the  mountains 
or  in  other  States,  where  law  and  order  were  supreme.  An 
address  to  the  people  was  therefore  made  ready,  and  copies 
multiplied  as  rapidly  as  could  be  done  in  a  country  where  a 
printing-press  would  have  been  as  great  a  winder  as  in  Africa 

*  A  copy  of  the  resolution  as  taken  from  the  manuscript  of  Rev.  S.  Houston 
is  given  in  Ramsey's  Annals  of  Tennessee,  p.  287. 
f  Ramsey's  Tennessee,  p.  288. 


1784.   ADDRESS   OF  THE  CONVENTION  TO   THE   PEOPLE.  159 

or  Japan.  The  language  and  the  arguments  of  this  paper 
were  not  such  as  would  have  come  from  the  pen  of  Hamilton, 
of  Jefferson,  or  of  Jay ;  but  of  a  kind  that  became  men  who, 
more  accustomed  to  fighting  Indians  and  tracking  bears  than 
to  making  laws,  sat  down  and,  without  the  smallest  knowledge 
of  the  road  by  which  communities  advance  from  ignorance 
and  poverty  to  knowledge  and  to  wealth,  marked  out  such  a 
course  and  cast  about  them  for  reasons  to  justify  it.  To  re 
move  the  doubts  of  the  scrupulous,  to  encourage  the  timid, 
and  to  induce  all  to  enter  into  a  firm  association,  such  was  the 
language  of  the  address,  a  few  things  were  to  be  maturely 
thought  over.  If  the  action  recommended  seemed  hasty  and 
ill-judged,  it  was  to  be  remembered  that  the  people  had  been 
driven  to  an  extreme.  Nay,  more,  the  Legislature  of  North 
Carolina  had,  by  ceding  the  counties  to  Congress,  opened  the 
way  for,  and  invited,  the  action.  There  were  undoubtedly 
many  reasons  why  a  separate  government  was  not  desirable. 
But  there  were  also  many  reasons  why  a  separate  government 
was  desirable.  Once  established,  immigrants  would,  with  a 
little  persuasion  and  a  little  encouragement,  come  in  and  fill 
up  the  frontier.  Agriculture  and  manufactures  would  flourish. 
Yet  a  little  while,  and  the  vast  plains  where  the  buffalo  roamed 
would  be  interminable  cornfields  and  wheatfields,  and  the  low 
ing  of  cattle  would  be  heard  on  the  hills  which  then  echoed 
the  howl  of  the  wolf  and  the  yelp  of  the  fox.  Mills  and  fac 
tories  would  obstruct  the  waters  of  every  stream,  schools  would 
spring  up,  knowledge  would  be  diffused,  literature  would 
flourish.  The  seat  -of  government  once  among  them,  gold 
and  silver  would  no  longer  be  drawn  away.  Where  the  capi 
tal  was,  there  would  money  also  be ;  and  as  none  would  go 
out,  the  stock  would  constantly  be  increasing.  Much  would 
be  left  by  travellers  prompted  by  curiosity  to  see  the  new 
State.  Many  ingenious  schemes  could  be  devised  to  draw  in 
more.* 

The  address  as  thus  presented  looked  well  on  paper  and 
sounded  well  to  the  ear.  But  neither  those  who  framed  it 
nor  those  who  heard  it  had  the  smallest  conception  of  the 
means  by  which  so  many  long-wished-for  ends  were  to  be 

*  Ramsey's  Tennessee,  pp.  288,  2S9. 


160          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

attained.  Their  hearts  were  bent  upon  creating  a  new  State, 
and,  in  their  eagerness  to  point  out  the  blessings  that  would 
flow  down  to  them  from  the  new  order  of  things,  they 
saw  none  save  such  as  had  through  years  of  darkness  and  of 
gloom  been  the  subjects  of  their  day-dreams  and  their  prayers. 
They  longed  to  see  the  wilderness  they  had  cleared  thick  with 
cities  and  villages  such  as  they  had  left  beyond  the  mount 
ains,  and  +o  have  their  cabins  of  rough-hewn  logs  give  way  to 
stately  edifices  of  brick  and  wood.  They  looked  forward  to 
the  time  when  they  should  once  more  hear  the  coins  chinking 
in  their  pockets,  and  estimate  their  wealth  not  in  skins  of 
wild  beasts,  but  in  heads  of  cattle  and  bushels  of  grain.  And 
from  all  this  they  firmly  believed  they  were  separated  by  bar 
riers  which  could  be  broken  down  by  a  few  resolutions  of  their 
delegates  and  a  few  votes  of  congressmen. 

As  soon  as  the  convention  had  broken  up,  vigorous  meas 
ures  were  set  on  foot  for  another  election.  Five  representa 
tives  were  to  be  chosen  from  each  county.  The  fifteen  were 
to  form  a  convention,  draw  up  a  constitution,  and  give  a  name 
to  the  new  State.  The  sixteenth  of  September  was  set  down 
as  the  day  for  the  meeting,  and  Jonesboro  was  selected  as  the 
place.  But  September  and  October  came  and  went,  and 
November  was  far  spent  ere  the  delegates  met,  and  they  met 
only  to  separate  in  angry  confusion.  The  unanimity  of  senti 
ment  which  had  hitherto  marked  all  their  deliberations  was  no 
longer  with  them.  Had  it  been  the  duty  of  the  fifteen  to  lay 
down  a  plan  for  the  conduct  of  a  summer  campaign  against  the 
Chickasaws,  had  they  come  together  to  deliberate  on  the  best 
way  of  defending  the  settlement  against  the  inroads  of  the 
Cherokees,  they  would  in  all  probability  have  proceeded  with 
expedition  and  with  perfect  harmony  to  the  business  in  hand, 
and  have  accomplished  results  honorable  to  themselves  and 
pleasing  to  their  constituents.  But  they  found  themselves  in 
a  position  the  like  of  which  they  had  never  stood  in  before, 
and  such  as,  till  a  few  months  previous,  they  never  had  in 
their  wildest  dreams  expected  to  occupy.  Each  had  all  hia 
life  long  been  used  to  see  law  and  law-makers  treated  with 
open  contempt.  Now,  in  an  hour  of  peril,  the  scoffers  had 
sent  him  to  make  laws,  and  precisely  how  a  man  should  act 


1784.  CHARACTER   OF   SEVIER.  161 

when  a  law-maker  he  did  not  know.  He  had,  however,  for 
ten  years  past,  heard  much  of  the  duties  of  a  delegate,  and 
held  the  doctrine  that  a  representative  is  bound  by  the  will 
of  his  constituents  in  its  crudest  form.  The  minute,  there 
fore,  each  one  took  his  seat  in  the  convention,  he  felt  him 
self  in  honor  bound  to  be  the  noisy  advocate  of  the  opinions 
of  men  whose  votes  had  placed  him  there.  And  through 
out  the  three  counties  no  two  constituent  bodies  could  be 
found  holding  the  same  opinions.  Scarce  had  one  back 
woodsman  laid  before  the  members  the  wild  theories  of  gov 
ernment  he  had  so  often  discussed  with  his  boon  companions 
as  they  sat  around  the  tavern-door,  than  half  a  dozen  others 
were  instantly  on  their  feet  clamoring  to  be  heard.  Each  ad 
vanced  what  he  believed  to  be  the  most  convincing  arguments 
in  behalf  of  his  own  scheme,  and  overwhelmed  that  of  his 
neighbor  with  sarcasm  and  derision.  The  replies  which  fol 
lowed  these  attacks  were  full  of  abuse,  and  abuse  of  that 
peculiar  kind  which  flourishes  best  among  men  who,  in  a  new 
country,  labor  in  the  van  of  settlement  and  progress.  In  a 
short  time  the  convention,  amid  the  utmost  disorder,  broke  up. 

But  while  the  constitutional  convention  was  wrangling  at 
Jonesboro,  the  Legislature  met  at  Newbern.  And  now  that 
the  damage  was  done,  all  haste  was  made  to  repair  it.  The 
measures  resorted  to  were,  however,  much  better  adapted  to 
preventing  than  to  curing  the  disorder.  The  bill  of  cession 
was  quickly  repealed.  The  requests  so  long  refused  were 
granted.  A  bill  was  brought  in,  and  hastily  passed,  to  estab 
lish  a  supreme  court  at  Jonesboro,  to  provide  for  the  appoint 
ment  of  an  attorney-general  and  an  assistant  judge,  and  to 
form  the  militia  of  Washington  district  into  a  brigade.  These 
concessions  were  followed  up  by  a  dexterous  distribution  of 
the  new  honors. 

Of  the  men  sought  to  be  won  over  by  title  and  place, 
the  foremost  in  parts,  in  courage,  and  in  energy  was  John 
Sevier.  Sevier  was  perhaps  the  only  one  in  the  settlements 
who  could  trace  back  an  honorable  descent  through  several 
generations  of  ancestors.  He  was  a  native  American;  but 
his  family  were  of  French  extraction,  were  Huguenots,  had 
long  lived  in  France,  and  had  there  written  the  name  Xa- 

VOL.    I. — 12 


162          THE  WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

yier.  On  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  his  grand 
father  fled  with  the  family  to  London,  and  in  time  became  a 
prosperous  merchant.  But  ledgers  and  invoices  had  so  little 
attraction  for  the  son  Valentine  that  he  soon  went  over  the 
sea  to  seek  his  fortunes  in  the  colonies,  and  settled  among  the 
mountains  which  border  the  rich  and  beautiful  valley  where 
flow  the  waters  of  the  river  the  Indians  have  named  the  Shen- 
andoah.  There  John  Sevier  was  born  ;  but  while  he  was  still 
a  lad  his  parents  went  across  the  mountains  and  took  up  their 
abode  on  the  banks  of  the  Ilolston.  Thenceforth  his  years 
were  passed  amid  Indians  and  backwoodsmen,  men  whose 
talk  was  of  trails  and  traps,  of  encounters  with  the  savages 
and  fights  with  bears,  and  whose  ambition  was  to  be  renowned 
as  the  finest  shot  and  the  best  hunter  in  the  four  counties. 
The  fruits  of  this  training  became  visible  when  in  after  years 
the  boy  was  famous  as  a  popular  leader  and  Governor  of  the 
State  of  Franklin.  He  early  acquired,  and  to  the  last  re 
tained,  a  reputation  for  intrepidity  and  decision.  His  bold 
ness,  indeed,  often  bordered  upon  rashness.  What  fear  was 
he  did  not  seem  to  know.  He  served  with  distinction  in  the 
war  for  independence,  and  bore  an  honorable  part  on  that 
memorable  day  when  the  undisciplined  frontiersmen  charged 
again  and  again  up  the  steep  sides  of  King's  Mountain.  When 
peace  came  he  went  back  to  his  home,  and  became  one  of  the 
most  noisy  of  the  little  knot  of  aspiring  men  who  set  them 
selves  to  correct  what  they  were  pleased  to  consider  the 
wrongs  of  the  settlers.  A  fluent  speaker,  and  of  much  better 
education  than  his  companions,  Sevier  was  always  heard  with 
respectful  attention.  When,  therefore,  the  time  came  for  ac 
tion,  when  the  ignorant  multitude  were  casting  about  for  a 
man  of  parts  and  decision,  they  turned  to  him.*  He  had  been 
among  the  first  to  advocate  the  formation  of  a  new  State, 
had  a  seat  in  the  convention  which  recommended  this  measure, 
and  in  the  convention  which  in  November  broke  up  in  confu 
sion.  Not  long  after  he  received  a  letter  from  Governor 
Martin  acquainting  him  with  the  action  of  the  mother  State  ; 

*  The  facts  related  of  Sevier  have  been  collected  chiefly  from  Lippincott'g 
Cabinet  History  of  the  States,  Haywood's  History  of  Tennessee,  Ramsey's  History 
of  Tennessee,  and  from  the  newspapers  and  letters  of  the  time. 


1784.  CONDITION   OF   THE  KENTUCKIANS.  163 

how  that  courts  had  been  organized,  an  attorney-general  ap 
pointed,  the  militia  formed  into  a  brigade,  and  he  made  com 
mander.  He  was  not  a  little  nattered.  It  seemed  in  truth 
much  better  to  be  a  brigadier-general  in  the  service  of  a  great 
State  than  the  leader  of  a  noisy  mob,  which  might,  in  a  fit  of 
jealous  anger,  hurl  him  from  power  and  drive  him  beyond  the 
Ohio.  Sevier  thought  over  the  matter,  and,  when  the  four 
teenth  of  December  arrived  and  the  new  convention  were 
about  to  meet,  mounted  the  steps  of  the  wretched  building 
and  read  Martin's  letter  to  the  crowd.  "  You  see,"  said  he, 
"  our  grievances  are  redressed  and  we  have  nothing  more  to 
complain  of.  My  advice  is  to  cease  all  efforts  to  separate  from 
North  Carolina  and  remain  firm  and  faithful  to  her  laws."  * 
But  for  once  his  advice  was  neglected.  The  members  took 
their  seats,  opened  the  convention,  and  Sevier,  as  he  could  not 
stem  the  current  wisely  went  with  it  and  suffered  himself  to 
be  made  president  of  the  meeting. 

Meanwhile  the  example  of  Tennessee  was  being  closely 
imitated  by  the  Kentuckians.  Early  in  the  summer  roving 
bands  of  Indians  appeared  along  the  southern  border  of  the 
district,  burning  houses,  destroying  crops,  and  driving  the  set 
tlers  before  them.  Every  day  the  news  that  came  in  from  the 
back  country  grew  more  and  more  alarming,  till  there  seemed 
much  reason  to  believe  that  a  general  Indian  rising  was  close 
at  hand.  In  this  extremity  Benjamin  Logan,  a  colonel  in  the 
militia  and  a  man  of  some  renown  through  the  district,  sum 
moned  the  citizens  to  meet  at  Danville  to  deliberate  on  a  plan 
for  defence. 

The  condition  of  the  district  which  Logan's  convention 
was  soon  to  discuss  was  well  calculated  to  awaken  fear.  Yet, 
bad  as  it  was,  it  was  much  better  than  that  of  the  country 
across  the  Tennessee.  The  Kentuckians  had  not,  like  the 
Tennesseeans,  been  cast  off  by  the  parent  State.  Virginia  still 
claimed  their  allegiance,  still  contributed  to  their  support,  and 
still  looked  upon  the  Kentucky  district  as  the  richest  of  her 
unrelinquished  possessions  in  the  West.  While  the  petitions, 
the  remonstrances,  the  complaints  of  Sevier  and  his  friends 
had  been  coldly  received  in  North  Carolina,  the  murmurs  of 

*  Ramsey's  Tennessee ;  Ilaywood's  Tennessee. 


164:          THE  WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION".    CHAP.  IL 

4 

the  men  who  assembled  at  Logan's  call  had  been  heard  with 
attention  at  Richmond.  Courts  had  been  established,  judges 
had  been  appointed,  an  attorney-general  commissioned,  lawyers 
had  come  among  them,  a  session  had  already  been  held,  and  a 
court-house  of  roughly  hewn  logs  besmeared  with  mud  was 
fast  rising  in  the  town  of  Danville.  But  there  were  in  Ken 
tucky  offenders  who  stood  in  no  fear  of  judges  and  sheriffs, 
and  against  whom  the  law  afforded  no  protection  whatever. 
Savages  could  not  be  sued,  nor  imprisoned,  nor  fined,  nor 
hanged.  In  every  county  were,  indeed,  militia  companies, 
and  thousands  of  men  who,  at  a  moment's  notice,  were  ready 
to  desert  their  traps  and  their  cornfields,  take  down  their 
muskets,  mount  their  horses,  and  go  upon  a  campaign  against 
the  Indians.  But  the  Cherokees  were  vigilant,  wary,  prompt 
to  act,  and  at  the  settlers'  very  doors.  The  only  authority  that 
could  call  the  militia  to  arms  was  careless,  slow  to  move,  and 
over  the  mountains  hundreds  of  miles  away. 

The  moment,  therefore,  the  convention  was  assembled  at 
Danville  and  a  plan  for  an  expedition  into  the  Indian  coun 
try  discussed,  the  question  of  the  lawfulness  of  such  an  under 
taking  was  raised.  The  lawyers  were  consulted  and  gave  it 
as  their  opinion  that  a  campaign  could  not  legally  be  carried 
on  against  the  Indian  tribes.  The  power,  it  was  said,  of  im 
pressment  had  ceased  with  the  war.  ISTor  was  there  any  power 
known  to  the  law  then  present  among  them  capable  of  call 
ing  out  the  militia  however  great  the  danger.  No  sooner  had 
this  opinion  been  announced  than  the  cry  was  raised  that  the 
time  had  come  to  form  a  government  independent  of  Virginia. 
But  this  the  assembly  had  no  power  to  do.  It  contented 
itself  with  sending  out  a  recommendation  that  a  new  conven 
tion  should  be  formed,  that  each  company  of  the  militia  in 
the  district  should,  on  a  certain  day,  elect  one  delegate,  and 
that  the  delegates  so  chosen  should  meet  at  Danville  on  the 
twenty-seventh  of  December  to  consider  the  expediency  of  an 
appeal  to  Virginia  for  leave  to  form  a  new  State.  With  this 
the  gathering  broke  up.* 

But  long  before  the  settlers  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee 
were  thus  hastening  to  sign  petitions,  to  form  conventions,  to 


*  Marshall's  History  of  Kentucky,  p.  190.     Collins's  History  of  Kentucky. 


1784.          THE  NAMES   OF  THE   PROPOSED   STATES.  165 

• 

draw  up  constitutions,  and  part  out  new  States,  Congress  had 
been  engaged  in  a  precisely  similar  work.  The  condition 
of  the  northwestern  territory  had  long  been  under  the  con 
sideration  of  the  House.  Several  committees  had  been  ap 
pointed,  and  several  schemes  listened  to,  for  laying  out  new 
States,  but  it  was  not  till  the  middle  of  April  that  a  resolution 
was  finally  reached.  One  plan  was  to  divide  the  ceded  and 
purchased  lands  into  seventeen  States.  Eight  of  these  were 
to  lie  between  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  and  a  north  and 
south  line  through  the  falls  of  the  Ohio.  Eight  more  were 
to  be  marked  out  between  this  line  and  a  second  one  parallel 
to  it,  and  passing  through  the  western  bank  of  the  mouth  of 
the  Great  Kanawha.  What  remained  was  to  form  the  seven 
teenth  State.  But  few  supporters  were  found  for  the  meas 
ure,  and  a  committee,  over  which  Jefferson  presided,  was 
ordered  to  place  before  Congress  a  new  scheme  of  division. 
Chase  and  Howe  assisted  him,  and  the  three  devised  a  plan 
whereby  the  prairie-lands  wTere  to  be  parted  out  among  ten 
new  States.  The  divisions  then  marked  down  have  utterly 
disappeared,  and  the  names  given  to  them  become  so  for 
gotten  that  nine  tenths  of  the  population  which  has,  in  our 
time,  covered  the  w^hole  region  with  wealthy  cities  and  pros 
perous  villages,  and  turned  it  from  a  waste  to  a  garden,  have 
never  in  their  lives  heard  the  words  pronounced.  Some 
were  borrowed  from  the  Latin  and  some  from  the  Greek ; 
while  others  were  Latinized  forms  of  the  names  the  Indians 
had  given  to  the  rivers.  The  States  were  to  be,  as  far  as  pos 
sible,  two  degrees  of  latitude  in  width,  and  arranged  in  three 
tiers.  The  Mississippi  and  a  meridian  through  the  falls  of  the 
Ohio  included  the  western  tier.  The  meridian  through  the 
falls  of  the  Ohio  and  a  second  through  the  mouth  of  the  Great 
Kanawha,  were  the  boundaries  of  the  middle  tier.  Between 
this  and  the  Pennsylvania  West  Line  lay  the  third  tier.  That 
vast  tract  stretching  from  the  forty-fifth  parallel  of  latitude 
to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  and  dense  with  forests  of  pine,  of 
hickory,  and  of  oak,  they  called  Sylvania.  It  was  the  north 
ern  State  of  the  western  tier.  To  the  long  tongue  of  land 
separating  the  water  of  Michigan  from  the  waters  of  Erie 
and  Huron  they  gave  the  name  Cherronesus.  A  narrow  strip, 


166          THE   WEAKNESS   OF   THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

not  more  than  two  degrees  of  latitude  in  width,  and  stretching 
from  Lake  Michigan  to  the  Mississippi,  was  called  Michigania. 
As  marked  down  on  their  rude  maps,  Michigania  lay  under 
Sylvania,  in  the  very  heart  of  what  is  now  Wisconsin.  South 
of  this  to  the  forty-first  parallel  of  latitude  was  Assenisipia, 
a  name  derived  from  Assenisipi,  the  Indian  title  of  the  river 
now  called  the  Rock.  Eastward,  along  the  shore  of  Lake  Erie, 
the  country  was  named  Mesopotamia.  It  took  the  name 
Mother  of  Rivers  from  the  belief  that  within  its  boundary 
were  the  fountains  of  many  rivers,  the  Muskingum,  the  two 
Mi  amis  of  Ohio,  the  Wabash,  the  Illinois,  the  Sandusky,  and 
the  Miami  of  the  Lake.  That  part  of  Illinois  between  the 
thirty-ninth  and  forty-first  parallels  was  called,  from  the  river 
which  waters  it,  Illinoia.  On  to  the  east  was  Saratoga,  and 
beyond  this  lay  Washington,  a  broad  and  level  track  shut  in 
by  the  Ohio  river,  the  waters  of  the  lake,  and  the  boundaries 
of  Pennsylvania,  Under  Illinoia  and  Saratoga,  and  stretching 
along  the  Ohio,  was  the  ninth  State.  Within  its  confines  the 
waters  of  the  Wabash,  the  Sawane,  the  Tanissee,  the  Illinois, 
and  the  Ohio  were  mingled  with  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi 
and  Missouri.  The  committee  therefore  judged  that  a  fitting 
name  would  be  Polypotamia.  Pelisipia  was  the  tenth  State. 
It  lay  to  the  east  of  Polypotamia,  and  was  named  from  Pelisipi, 
a  term  the  Cherokees  often  applied  to  the  river  Ohio.* 

At  the  same  time  that  the  boundaries  of  the  new  States 
were  defined,  a  code  of  laws  was  drawn  up  which  should 

*  So  little  was  generally  known  of  this  absurd  plan  of  Jefferson  that  when, 
in  1856,  an  old  French  map  was  discovered  in  the  New  York  State  Library  at 
Albany,  containing  the  statement  that  ten  new  States  were  being  formed  in  the 
Northwest,  and  giving  their  names  badly  spelled,  a  writer  in  the  Albany  Argus 
and  Atlas  of  December  24,  1856,  asked  where  the  Frenchman  got  his  idea  of  such 
a  thing.  A  correspondent  replied  that  he  had  found  a  like  statement  in  Guthrie's 
Geography,  published  in  Dublin  in  1789.  The  mystery  was  solved  by  the  New 
York  Tribune,  which  printed  the  ordinance  in  full  on  December  30,  1856.  The 
title  of  the  map  was :  Etats  Unis  de  1'Amerique  Septentrionale  avec  Los  lies 
Royale,  de  Terrc  Neuve  de  St.  Jean,  L'Acadie,  etc.,  1785.  The  report  of  the  com 
mittee  and  the  ordinance  may  also  be  seen  in  Journals  of  Congress,  March  1  and 
April  19,  1784;  New  York  Packet,  April  23,  1784;  Randall's  Life  of  Jefferson; 
in  Jefferson's  Collected  Works  ;  and  in  the  Tribune  Almanac  for  1857.  Guthrie's 
Geography,  it  may  be  well  to  say,  became  in  its  day  quite  a  noted  text-book,  and 
found  its  way  even  to  the  rude  settlements  on  the  Ohio.  See  Drake's  Pioneer  Life 
in  Kentucky. 


1784.  THE   SOCIETY   OF   THE    CINCINNATI.  167 

serve  as  a  constitution  for  each  State,  till  twenty  thousand 
free  inhabitants  acquired  the  right  of  self-government.  The 
code  was  in  no  wise  a  remarkable  performance,  yet  there 
were  among  its  articles  two  which  cannot  be  passed  by  in 
silence.  One  provided  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  after  the 
year  1800.  The  other  announced  that  no  one  holding  an 
hereditary  title  should  ever  become  a  citizen  of  the  new 
States.  Each  was  struck  out  by  the  House.  Yet  each  is  de 
serving  of  notice.  The  one  because  it  was  the  first  attempt 
at  a  national  condemnation  of  slavery,  the  other  because  it 
was  a  public  expression  of  the  dread  with  which  our  ancestors 
beheld  the  growth  of  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati. 

The  Order  of  the  Cincinnati  was  formed  in  April,  1783,  at 
the  suggestion  of  General  Knox.  Members  were  exclusively 
officers  of  the  army  and  navy.  They  had,  it  was  said,  been 
united  for  eight  years  in  defence  of  a  common  cause.  They 
had  shared  the  same  dangers,  the  same  privations,  the  same 
sufferings.  Many  strong  friendships  had,  under  these  circum 
stances,  grown  up ;  and  now  that  the  hour  of  disbandment 
was  near,  it  seemed  but  fitting  that  a  great  society  should  be 
formed  to  perpetuate  in  peace  the  friendships  formed  in  war, 
to  enable  them  to  deliberate  in  secret  on  the  welfare  of  the 
Union  they  had  fought  to  maintain,  and  to  hand  down  to  their 
remotest  descendant  some  more  tangible  honor  than  the  recol 
lection  of  their  poverty  and  their  wounds.  The  verdict  of 
posterity  has  long  since  acquitted  the  founders  of  the  Cincin 
nati  of  any  evil  designs  against  the,  life  of  the  State.  But  it 
would  indeed  have  been  a  hard  task  to  have  brought  to  this 
mind  the  men  who,  in  1783,  heard,  with  mingled  feelings  of 
alarm  and  disgust,  that  a  military  order  had  been  established, 
that  its  honors  had  been  made  hereditary,  that  Frenchmen  had 
been  admitted  to  its  ranks,  that  a  petition  had  been  laid  at  the 
foot  of  the  throne,  had  been  graciously  received,  and  that  the 
eagle  and  the  blue  ribbon  of  the  Cincinnati  were  daily  to  be 
seen  in  the  proudest  of  courts,  where  no  subject  had  ever  be 
fore  been  permitted  to  wear  the  decorations  of  a  foreign 
State.*  Scarcely  a  larger  share  of  public  attention  is  now  en- 

*  Major  L'Enfant,  in  one  of  his  letters,  speaks  of  "  La  faveur  que  sa  Majeste 
tres  Chretienne  a  bien  voulu  nous  accorder,  en  nous  permettant  de  porter  la 


168          THE  WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  IL 

joyed  by  the  society  than  is  bestowed  on  the  many  social  and 
literary  clubs  which  from  time  to  time  hold  receptions  and 
give  dinners  to  guests  from  over  the  sea.  Then  the  sharpest 
laws  were  thought  necessary  to  protect  the  new  liberties  of 
the  State  from  its  baneful  influence.  An  election  to  member 
ship  is  now  an  event  of  no  more  importance  than  the  bestowal 
of  the  honorary  degrees  which,  on  the  return  of  every  June, 
are  so  liberally  granted  by  innumerable  colleges.  Then  the 
officer  who  subscribed  to  its  laws  laid  down  in  many  States 
his  rights  of  citizenship.  Ten  thousand  societies  have  since 
that  day  been  organized  by  ill-disposed  men,  for  ten  thousand 
purposes  inimical  to  the  good  of  the  State,  or  to  the  good  of 
large  classes  in  the  State.  Socialistic  societies,  communistic 
societies,  societies  of  freethinkers,  Fenian  brotherhoods,  and 
trades-unions  without  number,  have  sprung  up,  grown  apace, 
and  sunk  utterly  into  oblivion,  without  exciting  more  comment 
than  a  few  caustic  lines  in  the  morning  papers.  Nay,  more : 
we  beheld  at  the  close  of  the  rebellion  another  body  of  troops, 
numbering  more  than  a  million  and  a  half  of  veterans,  organ 
izing  grand  armies,  holding  meetings,  wearing  badges,  estab 
lishing  posts  and  lodges  all  over  the  country,  and  exerting  no 
small  influence  at  elections.  Yet  no  cry  went  up  that  the  lib 
erty  of  the  State  wras  in  danger.  No  harsh  laws  were  enacted. 
But  the  country  ninety-nine  years  ago  was  in  no  temper  to 
bear  patiently  with  such  societies.  Nothing  was  more  gall 
ing  than  that,  having  destroyed  long-established  orders  of  no 
bility,  new  orders  should  be  set  up  by  the  very  men  who  had 
aided  so  materially  in  pulling  down  the  old. 

The  few  who  were  eligible  to  membership  were  much  in 
clined  to  treat  the  clamors  of  the  people  as  the  result  of  a 
wide-spread  discontent,  and  as  no  fault  of  the  society.  "  The 
public  of  New  England,"  wrote  General  Greene,  "  seem  to 
want  something  to  quarrel  with  the  officers  about.  Remove 
one  thing,  and  they  will  soon  find  another.  It  is  in  the  temper 
of  the  people,  not  in  the  matter  complained  of."  *  But  the 
complaints  against  the  officers  were  of  no  vulgar  kind.  A  year 

marque  de  notre  union  dans  son  royaume,  ou  nul  autre  ordre  etrangere  est  to« 
lere."     Proceedings  Xcw  York  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  1786,  p.  16. 
*  Letter  from  Greene  to  Washington. 


1784.  FRANKLIN   RIDICULES   THE   ORDER.  169 

had  now  gone  by  since  the  members  had  hastened  to  sign  the 
constitution  of  the  order.  Yet  the  fears  of  the  multitude 
were  as  great  as  ever,*  and  were  shared  in  by  the  most  acute 
philosophers,  the  most  sagacious  statesmen,  and  the  shrewdest 
diplomatists  a  country  by  no  means  wanting  in  such  men  had 
produced.  Franklin,  who  then  represented  the  people  at  the 
French  court,  wrote  home  ridiculing  the  order  in  his  own 
peculiar  way.f  The  united  wisdom  of  the  nation  had,  he 
said,  in  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  manifested  a  strong 
dislike  to  established  ranks  of  nobility.  He  wondered,  there 
fore,  that  a  number  of  gentlemen  should,  in  the  face  of  this, 
think  proper  to  set  themselves  and  their  posterity  apart  from 
their  fellow-citizens,  and  form  an  order  of  hereditary  knight 
hood.  Such  matters  were  much  better  managed  in  China.  In 
China  honors  ascended.  In  America  honors  descended.  In 
the  Celestial  Empire,  if  a  man  of  the  people,  because  of  his 
learning,  because  of  his  wisdom  in  council,  or  his  valor  in  bat 
tle,  be  graciously  raised  by  the  Emperor  to  the  rank  of  Man 
darin,  he  shares  his  new  distinction  with  his  parents.  From 
the  moment  of  his  elevation  his  father  and  his  mother  are 
entitled  to  wear  the  same  decorations  he  wears,  to  receive  the 
same  tokens  of  honor  that  he  receives,  and  to  be  treated  with 
the  same  ceremony  he  is  treated  with.  Franklin  then  went 
on,  in  that  singular  vein  of  pleasantry  which  his  friends  often 
mistook  for  humor,  to  demonstrate  by  arithmetic  that  as  the 
descent  became  more  and  more  remote,  the  glory  grew  less 
and  less.  A  man's  share  in  his  family  was,  he  said,  but  a  half 
part ;  in  the  second  generation  but  a  fourth  part ;  and  when 
the  ninth  generation  was  reached  but  the  five  hundred  and 
eleventh  part.  When,  therefore,  the  badges  and  the  titles  of 
the  Cincinnati  had  come  down  to  the  eldest  son  of  the  ninth, 
generation,  his  share  would  be  but  the  thousand  and  twenty- 
second  part  of  that  of  the  first  recipient.  The  bad  Latin  of 
the  motto  reminded  him  of  one  of  his  inexhaustible  fund  of 

*  "The  Cincinnati  appears,  however  grouiidlessly,  to  be  an  object  of  jealousy. 
The  idea  is  that  it  has  been  created  by  a  foreign  influence,  in  order  to  change  our 
form  of  government."  Knox  to  Washington,  Boston,  February  21,  1784. 

f  Letter  from  Franklin  to  Mrs.  Bache.  Franklin's  Works.  The  letter  is 
dated  January  26,  1784. 


170          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

stories  which  he  then  went  on  to  narrate.  But  ill  as  the 
school-master  had  done  his  work,  the  artist  had  done  worse, 
for  the  device  was  no  less  puzzling  than  the  motto.  The  bird 
might  be  a  turkey  or  a  bald-headed  eagle.  Of  the  two  the 
turkey  was,  in  his  estimation,  the  more  honorable  bird.  The 
eagle  wras  notoriously  a  bird  of  bad  repute,  was  a  coward  and 
a  thief,  delighting  to  plunder  smaller  birds  of  the  food  they 
had  collected  by  diligence  and  pains,  but  fled  screaming  from 
the  presence  of  the  little  king-bird.  The  turkey,  on  the  con 
trary,  hated  redcoats,  and  would  attack  them  courageously. 

The  tone  of  Samuel  Adams  was  less  flippant,  but  not  less 
severe.  His  views  were  those  of  a  statesman,  and  however 
groundless  they  may  now  seem,  were  expressed  after  the 
manner  of  a  statesman.  He  was,  he  said,  as  sensible  as  any 
man  ought  to  be  of  the  great  things  done  by  the  late  army ; 
he  was  as  desirous  as  any  man  ought  to  be  that  the  merit  of 
these  things  should  be  gratefully  acknowledged  and  rewarded 
by  the  country.  Indeed,  the  people  would  have  richly  re 
warded  their  defenders,  in  spite  of  their  prejudice  against  the 
gratuity  of  five  years'  pay,  had  not  the  officers  adopted  a  plan 
so  disgusting  to  their  feelings.  It  was  truly  wonderful  that 
men  should  imagine  that  a  people,  who  had  freely  spent 
blood  and  treasure  in  support  of  equal  rights,  should,  the 
moment  the  struggle  was  over,  be  reconciled  to  the  odious 
hereditary  distinction  of  families.  The  country  must  indeed 
be  humiliated  and  debased  when  men  would  patiently  bear  to 
see  their  fellows  strutting  among  them  with  their  assumed 
badges,  and  proudly  boasting,  "  These  are  the  distinctions  of 
our  blood."  It  was  scarcely  reasonable  to  suppose  that  all  the 
officers  held  such  an  idea  of  haughty  pre-eminence.  But  the 
human  mind  fell  an  easy  prey  to  the  thought  of  being  raised 
above  the  common  crowd ;  and  whatever  the  fathers  might 
do  in  their  day,  it  was  not  improbable  that  their  sons,  when 
they  perceived  that  the  multitude  had  grown  dizzy  with  long 
gazing,  would  go  much  farther,  and  take  to  themselves  much 
more  than  the  pageantry  of  nobility.  He  could  not  but  look 
upon  the  order  as  a  stride  toward  an  hereditary  military 
nobility  as  rapid  as  ever  was  made  in  so  short  a  time,  and 
could  not  but  lament,  as  a  grievous  misfortune  to  the  States, 


1784.  JOHX  ADAMS  DISAPPROVES  IT. 

that  so  illustrious  a  man  as  "Washington  sanctioned  it.*  But 
what  was  it  that  induced  these  Cincinnati  gentlemen,  who 
had  undertaken  to  deliberate  on  matters  which  might  essen 
tially  "  concern  the  happiness  and  future  dignity  of  the  Ameri 
can  empire,"  to  admit  European  military  subjects  into  their 
society  ?  Was  there  then  no  danger  that  a  foreign  influence 
might  prevail  in  America  ?  Were  they  ignorant  that  for 
eigners  wished  to  have  weight  in  our  councils  ?  What  good 
could  possibly  come  of  the  union  of  the  two  nations,  so  differ 
ent  in  their  politics,  to  deliberate  on  matters  concerning  the 
safety,  honor,  and  welfare  of  one  ?  They  had  indeed  once 
been  united  in  the  pursuit  of  the  same  object ;  they  had  in 
deed  of  late  been  fighting  side  by  side ;  but  was  it  well  to  be 
so  sure  the  two  nations  would  not  one  clay  have  different 
views,  and  very  national  and  interested  ones,  too  ?  Admit 
ting  that  the  Cincinnati  had  a  right  to  form  an  order,  and 
deliberate  on  national  subjects,  had  they  a  right  to  call  in 
foreign  aid  ?  This  step  was  as  impolitic  as  preposterous ; 
nay,  as  dangerous  as  it  would  be  for  the  United  States  to 
admit  a  delegation  of  Frenchmen  into  Congress. 

On  the  same  side  with  Samuel  was  his  cousin,  John  Adams. 
He  understood,  he  said,  that  in  a  communication  sent  from 
Amsterdam  he  was  reputed  to  bo  very  violent  against  the 
Order  of  the  Cincinnati,  and  to  have  denounced  it  as  a  French 
blessing. f  That  he  thoroughly  disapproved  of  the  society 
was  true.  That  he  was  violent  against  it  Avas  not  true.  He 
was  not,  he  thought,  a  violent  man.  And  while  he  could  not 
look  on  in  indifference  at  the  introduction  into  America  of  an 
order  of  chivalry,  he  had  disapproved  of  the  measure  with  as 
much  tranquillity,  as  much  self -recollection,  as  much  phlegm, 
as  if  he  had  been  a  native  full-blooded  Dutchman.  He  disap 
proved  of  it  because  he  believed  it  to  be  contrary  to  the  Con 
federation,  and  against  the  constitutions  of  the  several  States. 
The  society  had  been  founded  without  the  consent  of  the 
Government.  What,  he  should  like  to  know,  would  be  said 

*  Samuel  Adams  to  Elbridge  Gerry,  April  23,  1784.  See  also  Adams  to 
Gerry,  April  19,  1784,  and  September  15,  1785.  Samuel  Adams  to  John  Adams, 
December  16,  1784. 

f  Adams  to  Lafayette,  March  24,  1784.     Works  of  John  Adams. 


172          THE   WEAKNESS   OF   THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

in  any  country  of  Europe  if  a  party  of  private  gentlemen 
set  up  a  new  order  of  nobility  without  consulting  the  sover 
eign?  If  these  things  went  on  the  Government  would  be 
come  weak  indeed.* 

But  while  the  statesmen  were  busy  complaining,  the  peo 
ple  betook  themselves  to  action.  Lampoons,  pamphlets,  and 
broadsides  were  published,  denouncing  the  society  in  the 
strongest  language.  Candidates  for  legislative  honors  found 
themselves  in  possession  of  a  theme  for  unending  invective. 
The  Independent  Chronicle,  a  sturdy  Whig  journal  printed 
at  Boston,  set  forth  in  a  lengthy  paper  what  was  undoubtedly 
the  feeling  of  its  readers  in  the  matter.  The  institution  of 
the  Cincinnati,  said  the  writer,  is  concerted  to  establish  a  com 
plete  personal  distinction  between  the  military  dignities  and 
the  people  who  will  henceforth  be  dubbed  plebeians.  It  has 
been  publicly  asserted,  and  it  has  not  been  disproved,  that  the 
Order  of  the  Cincinnati  is  full  of  danger  to  the  rights  of  man ; 
that  it  tends  to  the  rapid  introduction  of  nobility  into  Amer 
ica,  and  that  kind  of  nobility  which  for  centuries  plagued 
and  domineered  over  Europe.  If  this  be  so,  if  the  Order 
threatens  to  introduce  even  the  mildest  form  of  nobility,  then 
it  becomes  the  duty  of  legislators,  of  governors,  of  magis 
trates,  above  all,  of  electors,  to  prevent,  by  every  judicious 
means  in  their  power,  such  an  institution  from  gaining  any 
strength  in  the  Commonwealth.f  The  hint  was  soon  taken. 
One  of  the  order,  who,  at  the  spring  election  at  Boston  was 
running  for  senator,  found  his  chances  of  election  so  much 
impaired  by  his  blue  ribbon  that  he  came  down  to  the  polls 
on  the  eve  of  the  voting,  and,  in  the  most  solemn  manner, 
declared  his  determination  to  withdraw  from  the  society .J 
The  site  of  the  great  New  England  college  and  the  presence 


*  The  opinions  of  Adams  were  shared  by  almost  all  noted  Americans  abroad. 
"  Most  of  the  Americans  here,"  writes  Lafayette,  "  arc  virulent  against  our  asso 
ciation.  Wads  worth  must  be  excepted,  and  Dr.  Franklin  says  but  little,  but  Jay, 
Adams,  and  all  the  others,  warmly  blame  the  army."  Lafayette  to  Washington, 
Paris,  March  9,  1784.  Writing  from  the  same  city,  Jay  says:  "The  institution 
of  the  Order  of  Cincinnutus  does  not,  in  the  opinion  of  the  wisest  men  whom  I 
have  heard  speak  on  the  subject,  either  do  credit  to  those  who  formed  and  patron 
ize,  or  to  those  who  suffered  it."  Jay  to  G.  Morris,  February  10,  1784. 

f  Independent  Chronicle,  1784. 

\  Samuel  Adams  to  Gerry,  April  19,  1784. 


1784.  CHARACTEK   OF   ^EDANUS   BURKE.  173 

of  so  many  grave  and  learned  doctors  had  raised  Cambridge 
to  a  high  place  among  New  England  towns.  It  was  univer 
sally  allowed  to  be  the  centre  of  polite  learning,  and  the  in 
habitants  wTere  believed  to  have  acquired,  by  some  mysterious 
process,  much  of  the  gravity  of  the  place  and  to  be  more 
calm  and  deliberate  in  their  actions  than  their  neighbors.  Not 
a  little  stir,  therefore,  was  made  when  it  was  known  that  the 
men  of  Cambridge  had  deliberately  instructed  their  represen 
tative  in  General  Court  to  use  his  endeavors  to  have  the 
Society  of  the  Cincinnati  suppressed.  But  the  legislators  of 
Massachusetts  were  not  prepared  for  so  extreme  a  measure, 
and  contented  themselves  with  declaring  the  society  to  be 
"  dangerous  to  the  peace,  liberty,  and  safety  of  the  Union."  * 
Rhode  Island  disfranchised  such  of  her  citizens  as  were  mem 
bers  of  the  Order, f  and  the  opposition  then  spread  to  South 
Carolina.  Of  the  thirteen  States,  South  Carolina  was  per 
haps  the  one  in  which  titles,  honors,  wealth,  illustrious  line 
age,  all  things  which  in  other  lands  make  up  nobility,  were 
most  highly  prized.  Yet  the  chief  men  of  the  State  were, 
with  scarce  an  exception,  violent  against  the  Cincinnati,  and 
among  the  chief  men  the  most  bitter  in  opposition  was 
^Edanus  Burke.  £  Burke  was  an  Irishman.  He  had  been 
educated  at  St.  Omer  for  a  priest.  But  his  spirit  was  restless, 
and  a  life  of  wandering  and  excitement  was  more  to  his  taste 
than  a  life  of  vigils  and  of  prayers.  He  soon  set  forth  on  his 
travels,  and  went  first  to  the  West  Indies,  wandered  from 
island  to  island,  and,  disgusted  with  the  heat  of  the  climate, 
the  laziness  of  the  people,  and  the  swarm  of  loathsome  creep- 

*  The  action  of  the  General  Court  is  given  in  full  in  the  American  Remem 
brancer  for  1783,  Part  iii,  p.  364. 

f  "  We  hear  that  the  State  of  Rhode  Island  is  determined  to  disfranchise  any 
and  every  person  who  is  a  member  of  the  Order  of  the  Cincinnati,  and  render 
them  incapable  of  holding  any  post  of  honor  and  trust  in  the  Government." 
Freeman's  Journal,  Philadelphia,  April  28,  1784.  For  the  feeling  toward  the 
Cincinnati  in  Philadelphia,  see  Pennsylvania  Packet,  June  12,  1784.  General 
Knox,  in  his  letter  to  Washington,  February  21,  1784,  mentions  the  appointment 
of  a  committee  by  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  to  investigate  the  Cincinnati, 
but  expresses  a  doubt  as  to  whether  the  committee  would  ever  bring  in  any  re 
port. 

\  Much  of  my  information  regarding  Burke  has  been  derived  from  J.  B, 
O'Xeall's  Bench  and  Bar  of  South  Carolina,  vol.  i,  pp.  35-53. 


174:          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDEKATION.  CHAP.  IL 

ing  things,  went  on  to  Charleston.  At  Charleston  he  chose 
to  labor  in  that  profession  in  which  so  many  of  his  countrymen 
have,  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  risen  to  distinction.  A  fluent 
'speaker,  a  ready  debater,  a  man  never  at  a  loss  for  a  quick  rep 
artee,  he  possessed  what  were  then  the  requisites  of  a  good  law 
yer.  Practice  soon  came  to  him,  and  with  practice  came  re 
nown.  It  was  not  long  before  his  jovial  face,  his  good  sayings, 
his  bulls,  his  brogue,  and  his  "  'fore  God,  sir,"  were  as  well 
known  in  the  State  as  in  the  court-room.  His  eccentricity,  his 
fits  of  absent-mindedness,  his  wit,  furnished  scores  of  amusing 
anecdotes  which  have  since  his  day,  like  the  jests  of  Iliero- 
cles,  become  the  common  property  of  newsmen  and  story 
tellers,  and  been  related,  with  little  change,  of  half  the  judges 
and  lawyers  of  the  West.  "When  the  war  opened  Burke  de 
serted  his  clients  and  joined  the  southern  army  as  a  volunteer 
major,  and  served  till,  in  1TT8,  he  was  elected  judge.  But 
his  judicial  functions  were  brought  to  a  speedy  close  when 
the  English  troops  overran  the  State.  He  then  went  back  to 
the  army,  served  till  the  peace,  when  he  took  his  seat  on  the 
bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  South  Carolina.  But  the 
gravity,  the  deliberation,  the  even-handed  justice  which  marked 
all  his  rulings  as  a  judge,  seem  to  have  deserted  him  when  he 
turned  his  thoughts  to  subjects  not  judicial.  The  moment  he 
put  on  his  black  gown  and  bands  he  was  the  impartial  judge. 
The  moment  he  took  up  his  pen  to  write  he  was  the  irascible 
Irishman.  As  an  Irishman  he  felt  an  intense  hatred  of  aris 
tocratic  pretensions  in  general.  As  a  stanch  Whig  he  felt  a 
peculiar  hatred  of  aristocratic  pretensions  in  America  in  par 
ticular.  When,  therefore,  the  news  came  to  him  of  the 
founding  of  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  of  its  purpose, 
and  of  the  mummeries  with  which  the  members  were  initiated 
at  New  York,  his  indignation  went  out  of  all  bounds.  He 
determined  to  attack  it.  There  was,  at  that  time,  but  one 
way  in  which  the  attack  could  be  made,  and  that  way  was  in 
a  pamphlet.  Burke  therefore  put  forth  a  pamphlet  which  he 
called  "  Considerations  on  the  Order  of  the  Cincinnati,"  and, 
as  it  would  have  been  a  most  serious  breach  of  custom  to  write 
under  his  own  name,  he  chose  to  do  so  under  that  of  Cas- 
sius.  His  motto  was,  "  Sound  ye  the  Trumpet  in  Zion."  The 


1784.  MIRABEAU  ON   THE   CINCINNATI.  175 

pamphlet  was  a  success  from  the  first,  was  reprinted  in  every 
State,  was  widely  read,  and  attributed  to  many  hands.  A  few 
copies  even  crossed  the  Atlantic,  and  found  their  way  to 
Paris,  where  one  of  them  fell  in  the  way  of  Mirabeau. 

The  Count,  who  had  but  lately  escaped  from  one  of  his 
many  imprisonments,  was  much  taken  both  with  the  matter 
and  style  of  the  book,  and,  though  his  time  was  greatly  occu 
pied  with  schemes  for  the  completion  of  the  Louvre,  for  the 
formation  of  a  national  picture-gallery,  with  Cagliostro  and 
the  diamond  necklace,  with  the  Bank  of  St.  Charles,  with  long 
dissertations  on  stock-jobbing  and  the  opening  of  the  Scheldt, 
he  turned  from  these  diverting  pursuits  and  put  the  pamphlet 
of  Cassius  into  French.  But  before  his  work  was  ended  he 
went  over  the  channel,  taking  with  him  a  bundle  of  half -fin 
ished  manuscript  and  a  letter  from  Dr.  Franklin.*  The  book 
came  out  in  London,-)-  and  had  some  sale.  It  was  indeed 
twice  translated  into  English,  and  afterward  into  German.;}; 
But  in  Paris  it  was  coldly  received.  There  the  Cincinnati 
were  high  in  favor.  They  were  patronized  by  the  King; 
they  were  petted  by  the  Court.  The  decoration  appeared 
in  the  royal  presence  side  by  side  with  the  collars  of  the 
Golden  Fleece.  Men  of  all  ranks  hastened  to  lay  claim  to 
the  coveted  eagle.  One  had  stood  upon  the  deck  of  the 
Bon  liomme  Richard  on  that  memorable  day  w^heii  Paul 

*  See  a  letter  from  Franklin  to  Benjamin  Vaughan,  September  7,  1784.  It  is 
stated  in  Memoires  de  Mirabeau,  t.  iv,  p.  145,  that  "  1'autre  motif  (for  going  to 
England)  etait  le  besoin  de  completer  les  documens  dont  il  composait  ses  Consi 
derations  sur  1'ordre  de  Cincinnatus." 

f  The  book  came  out  at  London  late  in  September,  1784,  under  the  title,  Con 
siderations  sur  1'ordre  de  Cincinnatus  ou  imitation  d'un  pamphlet  anglo-ameri- 
cain,  par  le  comte  de  Mirabeau.  Londres,  J.  Johnson,  1784,  un  vol.  On  the  title- 
page  was  the  epigram,  "  La  gloire  des  guerriers  ne  saurait  etre  complete  que 
lorsqu'ils  savent  rcmpli  les  devoirs  des  citoyens." 

\  To  the  charge  of  plagiarism  Mirabeau  makes  this  defence:  "  J'ai  donne  mon 
livre  sur  les  Cincinnati  pour  1'imitation  d'un  pamphlet  anglo-americain.  C'cst 
dans  ma  preface  que  se  trouve  1'indication  de  la  feuille  de  cet  ^Edanus  Burke  qui, 
dit-on,  reclame  mon  ouvrage.  Et  si  ceux  qui  la  citent  airjourd'hui,  1'avaient  seu- 
lement  lue,  ils  auraient  compris  qu'ils  reuissiraient  difficilemcnt  &  faire  passer  un 
gros  volume,  deux  fois  traduit  en  anglais  (&  Londres  et  en  Amerique),  et  qu'on 
va  publier  en  allemand,  pour  la  traduction  de  16  pages  in-8°,  ou  24  pages  in-12° ; 
car  le  tres-estimable  pamphlet  d'Jidanus  Burke  a  ete  impreme  sous  ces  deux 
formats."  Memoires  dc  Mirabeau,  t.  iv,  p.  100,  note,  ed.  1834. 


176          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  IL 

Jones,  with  his  ship  fast  to  the  rigging  of  the  Serapis,  fought 
the  English  hand  to  hand.  Another  had  been  proclaimed  at 
the  head  of  the  army  for  gallant  services  at  the  siege  of 
Savannah.  A  third  had  languished  in  an  English  prison  for 
the  cause  of  the  States.  The  eldest  son  of  De  Kail)  spoke  of 
the  claims  of  his  father.  Chevalier  de  Lameth  pointed  to  the 
wounds  he  received  as  he  stormed  the  trenches  at  Yorktown.* 
Nor  did  this  enthusiasm  for  the  Cincinnati  soon  die  out.  On 
the  twelfth  of  July,  five  years  later,  when  the  French  Revo 
lution  may  be  said  to  have  got  really  under  way,  Camille  Des- 
moulins  rushed  from  the  Cafe  de  Foy,  climbed  upon  a  table, 
and  proposed  a  cockade.  "  What,"  said  he  to  the  multitude 
that  swayed  about  him,  "  What  shall  it  be?  Shall  it  be 
green,  the  color  of  hope  ?  or  shall  it  be  blue,  the  color  of  the 
Cincinnati  ? "  And  the  crowd  shouted  back,  "  Let  it  be  green, 
green,  the  color  of  hope."  f 

At  home  the  strictures  of  Burke  called  forth  several  re 
plies,  but  they  were  judged  such  poor  performances  that  they 
went  off  slowly,  and  many  years  afterward,  when  the  present 
century  was  well  advanced,  when  Jefferson  was  in  the  White 
House,  when  the  Cincinnati  were  quite  forgotten,  copies  were 
picked  up  in  the  bookstalls  by  the  curious  for  a  few  coppers 
apiece.^ 

Angry  as  the  people  were  with  the  officers,  they  were  in  a 
still  worse  humor  with  the  men.  When  the  war  was  over,  a 
clamor  was  raised  that  the  army  should  instantly  be  disbanded. 

*  See  a  very  interesting  article  on  the  Cincinnati  in  the  Pennsylvania  Maga 
zine  of  History  and  Biography. 

f  The  scene  has  been  described  by  Mignet,  one  of  the  earliest  historians  of 
the  French  Revolution,  and  whose  book,  we  are  told,  was  revised  by  Lafayette. 
"  II  (Camille  Desmoulins)  propose  de  prendre  des  cocades  pour  sc  rcconnaitre  ct 
pour  se  defendre :  '  Youlez-vous,'  dit-il,  '  le  vert,  couleur  de  1'esperance,  ou  le 
rouge,  couleur  de  1'ordre  libre  de  Cincinnatus  ? '  '  Le  vert,  le  vert,'  repond  la 
multitude.  S'orateur  descend  de  la  table,  attache  une  feuille  d'arbre  £  son  cha- 
pcau,  tout  le  mondc  1'imitc  ;  les  marronniers  du  Palais  sont  presque  dcpouilles  de 
leur  feuilles,  et  cette  troupe  sc  rendre  en  tumulte  chez  le  sculpteur  Curtius." 
Histoire  de  la  Revolution  Fran9aise  depuis  1789  jusqu'en  1814,  par  F.  A.  Mignet, 
t.  i,  pp.  66,  67.  Also,  Camille  Desmoulins,  (Euvres,  ed.  1879,  t.  ii,  pp.  49,  50,  92. 

\  One  of  the  most  elaborate  of  the  answers  is  Observations  on  a  Late  Pam 
phlet  entitled,  Considerations  upon  the  Society  or  Order  of  the  Cincinnati,  etc. 
By  an  Obscure  Individual,  1783.  See,  also,  Considerations  on  the  Order  of  the 
Cincinnati,  Boston  Gazette,  May  26,  1788. 


1783.  THE   COMMUTATION  BILL  PASSED.  177 

But  a  large  arrearage  of  pay  was  due,  and  the  troops  seemed 
little  inclined  to  lay  down  their  arms  till  it  had  been  paid  to 
the  last  shilling.  In  this  strait  Congress  passed  several  acts 
for  the  relief  of  the  army.  These  the  people  received  with 
great  indignation,  and  on  several  occasions  the  wrath  of  the 
populace  flamed  so  high  that  the  objectionable  acts  were  con 
demned  at  town-meetings. 

Such  had  been  the  fate  of  the  army  bill  for  the  commu 
tation  of  half-pay  for  life  to  five  years'  full-pay  at  once. 
Late  in  the  fall  of  1783  a  suggestion  was  made  by  "Washing 
ton  to  give  a  life  pension  of  half -pay  to  every  officer  and  sol 
dier  who  had  served  through  the  war.  The  idea  seemed  a 
good  one,  was  highly  approved,  and  a  bill  embodying  it  soon 
brought  in  and  passed.  This,  a  few  months  later,  was  re 
pealed,  and  a  new  ordinance  voted  which  commuted  the  life- 
pay  into  five  years'  full-pay  in  one  sum.  As  to  the  wisdom 
of  this  course  there  can  now  be  but  one  opinion.  It  was 
greatly  to  the  advantage  both  of  the  Government  and  the 
army.  It  was  no  more  than  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the 
majority  of  the  men  who  were  to  receive  the  money  would 
live  more  than  ten  years.  A  great  saving  would  therefore  be 

i/  O  O 

effected  by  commuting  the  life  pension  to  half-pay  for  ten, 
or,  what  was  precisely  the  same  thing,  full-pay  for  five  years. 
The  pensioners  would,  moreover,  be  greatly  assisted  by  the 
payment  at  one  time  of  so  large  a  sum.  They  were  poor ; 
their  needs  were  many  and  pressing.  Some  time  must  neces 
sarily  elapse  before  they  could  establish  themselves  in  any 
business  or  in  any  profession  that  would  yield  them  a  com 
petence.  The  wages  that  would  be  doled  out  to  them  an 
nually  would  be,  at  best,  but  a  pittance.  But  if  this  pittance 
were  increased  tenfold,  and  paid  down  in  one  lump,  the  value 
of  it  would,  by  immediate  payment,  be  increased  tenfold 
more. 

Considerations  like  these,  however,  had  no  weight  with 
the  multitude.  When  they  contrasted  the  number  of  dollars 
it  was  proposed  to  give  to  each  soldier,  from  the  general  down 
to  the  private,  with  the  number  of  dollars  yielded  by  their 
potato-patches  and  their  wheatfields,  they  cried  out  that  they 
were  about  to  be  loaded  with  unbearable  taxes  that  an  aris- 

YOL.    I. — 13 


178          THE  WEAKNESS   OF   THE    CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

tocracy  of  money  might  be  created.  All  over  the  country  the 
Commutation  Act  met  with  small  favor.  The  war  was  over. 
Peace  had  come.  Men  forgot  the  services  of  the  army,  and 
thought  only  of  their  own  poverty  and  the  great  sum  to  be 
wrung  from  them  as  a  reward  for  their  deliverers.  It  was 
all  they  could  do,  they  declared,  to  pay  the  taxes  now  laid 
upon  them.  This  new  levy  would  take  the  houses  from  over 
their  heads  and  the  clothes  from  off  their  backs  before  it  was 
paid.  The  plain  duty  of  Government  was  to  cut  down,  not 
to  increase,  expenditures.  This  feeling  was  particularly  strong 
in  New  England.  In  Massachusetts  the  voice  of  Samuel 
Adams  was  against  commutation,  and  the  voice  of  Adams  was 
heard  with  respect. 

Indeed,  no  man  had  for  so  long  a  time  performed  so  great 
a  part  in  eastern  politics.  He  had  come  early  into  public 
life,  and  was  famous  as  a  stanch  patriot  when  men  who  after 
wards  sat  in  high  places  were  busy  with  their  school-books 
or  their  toys.  Old  men,  whose  memories  went  back  to  the 
early  part  of  the  century,  could  remember  no  time  for  forty 
years  before  the  war  when  Adams  had  not  been  foremost  in  a 
wise  and  temperate  resistance  to  the  encroachments  of  the 
Crown.  In  part  this  is  to  be  ascribed  to  the  natural  bent  of 
his  mind ;  but  much  is  also  due  to  his  training.  The  elder 
Adams  was  a  well-to-do  Boston  brewer  who  had  always  taken 
a  lively  interest  in  colonial  politics ;  had  been  a  member  of 
that  renowned  club  whose  name,  slightly  corrupted,  has  en 
riched  our  language  with  the  word  caucus,*  and  had  kept 
open  house  for  hia  political  friends. f  The  lad,  therefore,  grew 
up  surrounded  by  tax-collectors  and  select-men,  judges  and 
pamphleteers,  and  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  discussions 
he  often  overheard  strongly  affected  his  future  career.  From 
the  day  he  entered  Harvard  he  was  constantly  declaiming  on 

*  It  is  stated  on  the  authority  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Gordon,  the  historian, 
that,  in  1724,  Samuel  Adams,  the  elder,  "and  about  twenty  others,  one  or  two 
from  the  north  end  of  the  town,  where  all  ship  business  was  carried  on,  used  to 
meet,  make  a  caucus,  and  lay  their  plans  for  introducing  certain  persons  to  pub 
lic  places  of  trust  and  power."  From  this  calkcrs'  club  of  ship-building  mechan 
ics  comes,  by  a  slight  corruption,  the  word  caucus.  See  some  remarks  in  Wells's 
Life  of  Samuel  Adams,  vol.  i,  p.  3. 

i  Life  of  Adams,  vol.  i,  p.  3. 


1784.  CHARACTER   OF   SAMUEL  ADAMS.  179 

the  theme  of  liberty.  On  the  day  he  quitted  Harvard  he 
pronounced  an  able  oration  on  the  right  of  resistance,  and 
from  thenceforth  to  the  close  of  his  life  was  devoted  to  the 
interests  of  the  colonies.*  JSTo  single  man  did  so  much  to 
promote  the  success  of  the  Revolution.  While  others  were 
busy  inciting  the  people,  he  was  engaged  in  providing  them 
with  leaders.  His  eye  was  upon  every  young  man  of  parts 
and  promise.  It  was  his  delight  to  make  their  acquaintance, 
and,  while  he  counselled  and  helped  them  in  their  worldly 
affairs,  warned  them  of  the  dangers  that  threatened  the  coun 
try,  and  enlisted  them  heartily  in  the  good  cause,  f  He  was 
the  steady  friend  of  Church,  the  poet,  and  of  Joseph  Warren, 
the  martyr  of  Bunker  Hill.  He  started  Hancock  upon  his 
political  career ;  he  discovered  the  eloquence  of  Josiah  QuinL 
cy ;  he  gave  John  Adams  that  case  which  brought  him  for 
the  first  time  into  public  notice. 

In  politics  Samuel  Adams  was  of  the  school  of  Otis  and 
Thatcher.  But  his  clear  head  and  even  temper  enabled  him 
to  maintain  that  just  balance  without  which  his  party  w^ould 
have  rushed  headlong  to  its  destruction.  When  the  fiery 
eloquence  of  more  excitable  men  had  persuaded  the  multi 
tude  that  England  should  be  defied,  that  the  acts  of  Hutchin- 
son  should  be  withstood,  that  the  Stamp  Act  should  be  resisted, 
Adams  was  chosen  as  the  man  to  say  how  it  should  be  done. 
He  was  as  forward  as  any  in  resistance,  but  resistance  of  a 
strictly  legal  kind.  He  would  countenance  no  violence  till 
every  means  the  ingenuity  of  lawyers  could  devise  had  been 
exhausted,  and  he  would  then  have  just  so  much  as  was  neces 
sary,  and  no  more.  When  the  people  were  calling  for  sum 
mary  vengeance  011  the  soldiers  arrested  in  the  Boston  massa 
cre,  he  insisted  that  they  should  be  placed  on  trial.  When 
the  mob  were  for  destroying  the  tea,  he  urged  that  it  should 
be  sent  back  to  England.  Some  of  the  opinions  he  held,  and 
some  of  the  opposition  he  made,  have,  in  later  days,  been 
shown  to  be  erroneous  and  ill-timed.  He  disapproved  of  the 
return  of  the  Tories.  He  pronounced  the  Cincinnati  a  dan 
gerous  body.  It  was  only  under  great  pressure  that  he  wTas 
induced  to  cast  his  vote  in  favor  of  the  Constitution.  But  it 


*  Life  of  Adams,  vol.  i.  f  Correspondence  of  J.  Adams,  vol.  x,  p.  364 


180          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

was  well  known  that  his  opinion,  whatever  it  might  be,  was 
the  result  of  careful  deliberation,  and  that  he  stood  out  against 
no  measure  except  from  a  sincere  conviction  that  it  was  not 
likely  to  promote  the  public  good.  At  no  time  was  this  more 
conspicuously  illustrated  than  at  the  present.  He  denounced 
the  commutation  bill  in  unmeasured  terms,  yet  it  was  about 
to  put  several  thousands  of  dollars  into  the  pocket  of  his  much- 
loved  son.* 

In  Connecticut  a  more  vigorous  resistance  was  offered.  A 
State  convention  was  called  to  meet  at  Middletown,  and  dele 
gates  from  many  towns  came  up.  Much  invective  was  in 
dulged  in,  and  great  complaints  made.  But  nothing  was  done. 
The  gathering  broke  up,  and  was  for  a  long  time  made  the  sub 
ject  of  sport  in  bad  poems  and  worse  lampoons.f  Nor  were 
arguments  of  a  better  kind  wanting.  Many  noted  characters 
came  to  the  support  of  Congress ;  but  one  of  the  most  earnest 
in  their  ranks  was  a  young  man  then  all  unknown  to  fame, 
but  who,  by  the  sheer  force  of  his  natural  abilities,  raised  him 
self  in  after  years  to  great  eminence  and  made  his  name  a 
household  word  wherever  the  English  language  is  spoken. 
Noah  Webster  was  then  in  his  twenty-fifth  year.  He  believed 
in  commutation,  strongly  disapproved  the  conduct  of  the  town- 
meetings,  and,  in  a  series  of  essays,  $  stoutly  maintained  the 
justice  and  wisdom  of  the  course  pursued  by  Congress,  pointed 
out  the  short-sightedness  of  the  pot-house  politicians  who  were 
clamoring  so  loudly  against  its  acts,  and  adjured  all  men  as 
they  loved  liberty  to  stand  firm  on  the  side  of  Government. 
These  papers  were  far  from  contemptibly  written,  were  widely 
read,  and  elicited  for  the  young  author  the  hearty  praises  of 
Governor  Trumbull. 

Thankless  and  ungrateful  as  may  seem  the  ill-humor  the 
country  was  in  with  the  army,  no  small  part  of  it  is  to  be  as 
cribed  to  a  number  of  acts  for  which  the  rank  and  file  could 
blame  110  one  but  themselves.  Not  long  after  the  cessation  of 


*  Wells's  Life  of  Samuel  Adams,  vol.  Hi,  p.  178. 

f  The  convention  met  on  the  sixteenth  of  December,  1783.  A  good  specimen 
of  the  ridicule  it  aroused  is  a  satirical  poem  on  its  proceedings  in  the  Pennsyl 
vania  Packet,  January  8,  1784. 

j:  They  came  out  in  the  Connecticut  Courant  under  the  name  Iloucstus. 


1783.  THE  NEWBUKG  ADDKESSE9.  181 

hostilities,  and  while  the  Peace  Commissioners  were  still 
wrangling  over  the  articles  of  the  treaty,  a  cantonment  of  the 
troops  was  formed  at  Newburg  not  far  from  the  spot  where 
a  few  years  before  the  boom  had  been  thrown  across  the  river 
to  impede  the  progress  of  British  vessels.  The  discipline  of 
the  camp  was  lax ;  the  wants  and  sufferings  of  the  troops 
many  and  great.  They  were  ill-shod.  Their  clothes  could 
with  difficulty  be  kept  from  dropping  off  their  backs.  Often 
the  misery  of  cold  was  augmented  by  the  pangs  of  hunger,  for 
the  roads  were  in  such  a  condition  that,  though  the  highest 
cash  price  was  offered  for  corn  and  wheat,  the  farmers  could 
not  drag  their  produce  to  camp.*  The  thoughts  of  the  soldiers, 
diverted  from  war,  were  speedily  turned  to  their  wretched 
condition.  Complaints,  at  first  heard  but  as  muttered  grum 
blings,  were  soon  spoken  boldly  out  at  the  mess-table  and 
the  camp-fire.  The  war,  they  said,  was  over.  The  very 
next  packet  from  London  might,  not  improbably,  bring  the 
treaty.  The  British  troops  would  be  withdrawn.  American 
troops  would  no  longer  be  needed.  Congress  would  disband 
them,  and  what,  in  that  event,  would  become  of  their  hard- 
earned  pay  so  long  overdue?  The  policy  of  Congress  was 
clearly  to  postpone  all  action  on  the  matter  till  after  the  peace, 
and  then  turn  them  adrift  to  starve  or  live  as  best  they  could 
on  the  charity  of  the  country.  Good  friends  had  repeatedly 
made  known  their  condition  to  Congress.  Nay,  they  had 
themselves  presented  to  that  body  a  memorial  drawn  up  in 
the  most  respectful  and  becoming  language.  Yet  no  action 
had  been  taken,  and,  what  was  more,  no  disposition  had  been 
shown  to  take  any  action.  While  in  this  frame  of  mind  the 
discontent  of  the  army  was  yet  more  fomented  by  a  few  restless 
and  aspiring  spirits,  till,  one  morning  in  April,  1783,  the 
camp  was  white  with  copies  of  an  address  which  appeared 
without  signature.  The  pure  English  and  the  style  were  such 
as  would  at  any  other  time,  and  under  any  other  circum 
stances,  have  excited  admiration  and  applause.  But  the  spirit 


*  Pickering,  in  one  of  his  letters  written  at  this  time,  states  that  the  roads  were 
so  bad  that  the  farmers  "  could  not  bring  their  produce  to  market,  though  offered 
cash  on  delivery."  Life  of  Timothy  Pickering  by  Octavius  Pickering,  vol.  i,  p, 
392.  Pickering  was  the  quartermaster. 


182          THE   WEAKNESS   OF   THE   CONFEDERATION".  CHAP.  n. 

was  plainly  one  of  mutiny  and  rebellion.  The  troops  were, 
however,  thoroughly  out  of  humor,  and  the  writer  with  great 
dexterity  made  use  of  just  such  arguments  as  had  for  many 
weeks  past  been  going  the  rounds  of  the  camp.  He  began 
the  first  address  with  some  account  of  himself.*  He  was  a 
soldier.  He  too  had  left  his  home  to  bear  arms  in  defence 
of  the  rights  of  his  injured  country.  He  had  endured  much. 
He  had  felt  the  cold  hand  of  poverty  without  a  murmur,  and 
beheld  the  insolence  of  wealth  without  a  sigh.  It  had  been 
his  hope  that,  as  the  dark  clouds  of  adversity  scattered  and 
the  sunshine  of  peace  and  better  fortune  broke  forth,  the  se 
verity  of  Government  would  relax,  and  that  justice,  nay,  more 
than  justice,  that  gratitude  would  blaze  out  on  the  little  band 
of  men  whose  hands  had  upheld  and  steadied  the  Union  in 
all  the  dark  stages  of  its  passage  from  impending  servitude  to 
acknowledged  independence  and  to  peace.  After  a  pursuit  of 
eight  years  their  object  was  at  last  reached.  They  had  placed 
the  country  in  the  chair  of  independency.  Peace  had  now 
returned  to  bless  whom?  A  country  ready  and  willing  to 
redress  their  wrongs,  to  cherish  and  fittingly  reward  their  ser 
vices?  Had  peace  come  to  bless  a  land  courting  them  to 
return  to  private  life,  and  there  enjoy  the  independency  their 
courage  had  purchased  ?  Was  this  the  case  ?  Or  rather  had 
peace  come  to  a  land  trampling  on  their  rights  and  turning 
a  deaf  ear  to  their  cries  of  distress  ?  More  than  once  had  they 
made  known  their  wants  to  Congress.  How  had  they  been 
answered  ?  If  this  were  their  treatment  while  their  services 
were  still  indispensable  to  the  security  of  the  State,  what 
might  they  not  expect  when  no  longer  of  use,  when  their 

*  The  anonymous  letter  is  given  in  full  in  the  Journals  of  Congress  for  the 
year  1783.  Who  wrote  the  Newburg  Addresses  was  long  as  much  in  dispute  as 
who  wrote  the  Letters  of  Junius.  Gordon,  whose  History  of  the  American  Revo 
lution  came  out  a  few  months  later,  says  (Letter  XVII)  that  they  were  known  to 
be  the  work  of  Major  John  Armstrong.  But  Johnson,  the  author  of  a  Life  of 
General  Greene,  many  years  later  attributed  them  to  the  last  man  who  would  have 
written  them,  Gouverneur  Morris.  This  was  too  much  for  Armstrong,  and,  in  a 
review  of  the  book  that  came  out  in  the  United  States  Magazine  for  January,  1823, 
he  labored  hard  to  prove  a  claim  to  the  authorship  of  the  addresses.  He  was  suc 
cessful.  But  he  gained  small  credit  There  is  now  no  doubt  that  Armstrong 
wrote  them,  that  Gates  set  him  on,  and  that  Barbar,  the  assistant  adjutant-general, 
copied  and  distributed  them  through  the  army. 


1783.  MUTINY  AT  LANCASTER.  183 

swords  should  be  taken  from  their  sides,  and  no  marks  of 
military  distinction  left  them  but  their  poverty  and  their 
scars  ?  Was  it  just  that  the  army  should  be  the  only  sufferer 
by  the  revolution?  Was  there  one  among  the  troops  who 
would  consent  to  the  deep  degradation  of  dragging  out  a  life 
of  poverty,  or  of  wading  through  the  vile  mire  of  depen 
dency?  If  so,  let  him  go,  and  go  knowing  that  he  carried 
with  him  the  jests  of  Whigs  and  Tories.  Let  him  go,  starve, 
and  be  forgotten.  But  it  was  high  time  that  those  who  were 
of  a  different  mind  came  to  some  determination  as  to  what 
they  would  bear  and  suffer.  Above  all,  let  them  change  the 
milk-and-water  style  of  their  late  memorial,  act  the  man,  and 
assume  a  bolder  tone. 

This  document  was  read  by  the  troops  with  strong  mani 
festations  of  approval,  and  the  next  day  named  for  the  discus 
sion  of  their  grievances  and  the  determination  of  a  plan  of 
action  for  their  relief.  Washington  the  next  day  heard  with 
deep  mortification  of  the  action  of  his  troops.  With  all  speed 
he  issued  an  address  to  the  army,  assembled  his  officers,  as 
sured  them  of  his  unalterable  confidence  in  their  loyalty,  and 
avowed  his  disbelief  that  one  of  their  number  was  the  author 
of  the  letter.  He  then  retired  and  left  them  to  deliberate 
unrestrained  by  his  presence.  Gates  was  placed  in  the  chair. 
Some  ill-natured  remarks  were  made,  but  an  address  was  finally 
voted  assuring  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  undying  love 
of  his  troops,  of  their  disapproval  of  the  sentiments  of  the  let 
ter,  and  their  readiness  to  wait  longer. 

The  storm  had  now  spent  itself.  But  the  effect  made  on 
the  people  was  deep  and  lasting.  Nor  was  this  at  all  dimin 
ished  by  an  event  which  almost  at  the  same  time  took  place 
at  Philadelphia.  Indeed,  the  news  of  the  disorders  at  New- 
burg  had  scarce  been  carried  to  the  newspapers  of  Virginia 
when  it  was  followed  by  intelligence  of  a  yet  more  startling 
kind.  Some  raw  recruits  of  the  Pennsylvania  line  were  in 
camp  at  Lancaster.  Their  pay  was  long  overdue.  They  had 
become  unruly,  and  shown  signs  of  a  spirit  of  mutiny  that  had 
with  difficulty  been  kept  down  by  the  officers.  Suddenly,  on 
the  nineteenth  of  June,  1783,  word  was  sent  to  Congress  that 
eighty  of  the  troops  were  on  their  march  to  the  city,  that  they 


184:          THE  WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

were  determined  to  have  a  settlement  of  their  accounts,  and 
were  making  threats  against  the  bank.  Late  on  the  twentieth 
the  mutineers  entered  Philadelphia,  and  on  the  twenty-first, 
joined  by  some  veterans,  drew  up  in  line  before  the  State 
House,  where  Congress  was  sitting.  Good  order  was  kept 
till  the  can  had  gone  freely  round,  when  a  few  windows  were 
broken,  and  a  volley  of  taunts,  jibes,  and  obscene  jests  poured 
forth.  Congress  in  alarm  dispatched  General  St.  Clair  to  ex 
postulate,  but  with  no  effect.  A  message  was  then  sent  for 
the  second  time  to  the  Council  of  the  State,  which  sat  under 
the  same  roof,  demanding  protection.  The  President  answered 
that  he  could  do  nothing  for  the  relief  of  Congress.  It  was 
true,  he  said,  that  he  had  a  small  body  of  militia  at  his  com 
mand.  But  he  could  not  venture  to  call  them  out,  for  he  was 
by  no  means  sure  that  they  would  act  against  their  brothers  in 
arms.  Some  outrage  must  first  be  committed ;  some  property 
must  be  destroyed.*  It  was  moved  that  Congress  adjourn 
instantly.  This,  a  member  asserted,  would  be  an  exhibition  of 
terror  disgraceful  to  Congress  as  a  body  and  to  the  members 
individually,  and  the  motion  was  voted  down.  That  night 
Congress  rose  and  three  days  later  fied  to  Princeton,  where 
quarters  were  found  in  the  college. f 

The  flight  was  viewed  in  many  lights.  A  few  men  of 
sense,  while  they  held  that  no  danger  was  to  have  been  appre 
hended,  bitterly  lamented  the  great  lack  of  a  proper  federal 
spirit  on  the  part  of  Pennsylvania.  What,  said  they,  will  be 
thought  abroad  of  a  government  which  no  State  will,  in  an 
hour  of  need,  undertake  to  defend  ?  Others  could  see  in  it 
only  matter  for  jest.  But  the  multitude  were  mean  enough 
in  spirit  to  attribute  it  to  motives  worthy  of  their  own  bad 
hearts.  Some  shrewd  ones,  it  was  asserted,  who  hated  Penn 
sylvania,  had  seized  the  opportunity  to  get  Congress  out  of 
that  State.  They  had  magnified  the  danger.  They  had 
worked  upon  the  cowardice  of  their  fellows,  and  were  now 

*  "He  (Dickinson)  thought  that  without  some  outrages  on  persons  or  property 
the  militia  could  not  be  relied  on."  Madison  Account  in  Elliot's  Debates,  vol.  i, 
p.  92. 

f  An  account  of  the  whole  affair  is  given  by  Madison  in  Elliot's  Debates, 
vol.  i,  pp.  92-94 ;  and  by  Hamilton  in  a  letter  to  Reed.  Hamilton's  Works,  vol. 
i,  pp.  374-393. 


1784.        ARGUMENTS   AGAINST   A  STANDING   ARMY.          185 

congratulating  each  other  on  the  success  of  the  scheme. 
This  talk  was  firmly  believed  in  Philadelphia  and  New  York.* 
No  names  were  mentioned,  but  it  was  insinuated  that  Hamil 
ton  was  one  of  the  plotters,  f  Hamilton  was  a  new  member, 
had  been  very  active  during  the  session,  and  was  chairman  of 
the  committee  that  sought  aid  of  the  Council.  So  flatly  was 
this  charge  made  that,  though  a  cautious  man  and  not  much 
given  to  rushing  into  print,  he  thought  quite  seriously  of  vin 
dicating  himself  and  held  a  long  correspondence  with  Madi 
son  on  the  subject. 

"While  the  indignation  excited  by  these  acts  of  the  troops 
was  still  fresh,  a  motion  was  made  in  Congress  to  create  a  land  es 
tablishment  of  a  few  hundred  men.  The  posts  along  the  west 
ern  frontier,  it  was  argued,  are,  in  defiance  of  the  stipula 
tions  of  the  treaty,  still  in  the  hands  of  the  British.  Roya,1 
agents  are  at  work  inciting  the  border  tribes  to  constant  acts 
of  depredation.  The  western  settlements  are  too  weak  to  de 
fend  themselves.  To  talk  of  the  abolition  of  the  army  is, 
therefore,  to  talk  like  a  madman  or  a  Tory.  The  opponents 
of  the  measure,  waiving  all  question  of  the  need  of  troops, 
vehemently  denied  the  right  of  Congress  to  levy  them.  No 
one,  it  was  said,  pretended  to  deny  that  the  delegates  of  the 
States  in  Congress  assembled  had  the  right  to  raise  troops  in 
time  of  war.  But  it  was  far  from  clear  that  this  authority 
could  be  construed  into  a  right  to  make  requisitions  on  the 
States  for  a  land-force  in  times  of  peace.  To  say  that  the 
number  was  small,  only  eight  hundred  and  ninety-six  men, 
and  the  time  limited  to  three  years,  was  no  defence.  If  the 
law  could  be  interpreted  to  justify  a  requisition  for  a  small 
number  of  men  for  a  short  time,  what  was  there  in  it  to  forbid 
a  requisition  for  a  great  number  of  men  for  an  unlimited 
time  ?  This  was  simply  taking  awTay  the  power  of  the  States 
to  deliberate  on  the  matter  and  leaving  them  but  the  duty  of 
obeying.  More  than  this,  it  should  be  remembered  that  Con 
gress  was  already  clothed  with  power  to  make  foreign  and 

*  "  The  prevailing  idea  is  (in  Philadelphia)  that  the  actors  in  the  removal  of 
Congress  were  influenced  by  the  desire  of  getting  them  out  of  the  city,  and  the 
generality  of  the  remainder  by  timidity,  some  say  passion."  Hamilton  to  Madi« 
son,  July  6,  1783. 

f  See  a  letter  from  Hamilton  to  Madison,  June  29,  1783. 


186          THE  WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

domestic  loans  and  to  issue  bills  of  credit.  Add  to  this  the 
right  to  enlist  troops  in  time  of  peace  and  that  body  would 
instantly  be  armed  with  such  coercive  means  as  might  well  be 
alarming  to  the  country.  The  history  of  Greece,  the  history 
of  Rome,  and  the  history  of  England  were  then  ransacked  for 
examples  of  the  ills  of  a  standing  army,  and  the  conclusion 
reached  that  nothing  but  sophistry  or  Toryism  could  reconcile 
an  army  in  time  of  peace  with  republican  principles.  Armed 
bodies  of  men  were,  it  was  claimed,  and  always  had  been  dan 
gerous  to  the  liberty  of  a  free  people.  They  had  often  been 
made  destructive  weapons  for  the  establishment  of  despotism. 
If  a  republic  were  to  be  set  up  in  the  very  heart  of  Europe 
and  surrounded  on  every  hand  by  States  hostile  to  the  princi 
ples  of  liberty,  maintaining  great  armies,  and  ready  on  a  day's 
notice  to  send  them  over  the  border,  then  indeed  a  peace  estab 
lishment  would  be  absolutely  necessary.  But  the  United  States 
was  not  in  the  heart  of  Europe.  Three  thousand  miles  of 
water,  which  it  took  a  month  to  cross,  separated  her  from  the 
nearest  warlike  kingdom,  and  to  talk  of  the  need  of  a  land- 
force  in  peaceful  times,  in  such  a  country,  was  absurd.  As  to 
the  Indians,  every  one  knew  they  were  no  match  for  white 
men  and  could  easily  be  held  in  check  by  small  garrisons  in 
the  frontier  forts  assisted  by  the  settlers. 

Such  was  the  persistency  with  which  these  objections  were 
urged  that  Congress  was  soon  as  divided  in  opinion  as  the 
people.  Motion  after  motion  was  brought  forward  to  create 
a  land-force,  and  as  often  lost.  But  at  length  a  resolution 
was  reached  on  a  motion  introduced  by  Elbridge  Gerry. 
After  a  long  preamble  in  which  he  rehearsed  what  may  be 
regarded  as  the  popular  arguments  against  standing  armies, 
he  moved  that  a  recommendation,  not  a  requisition,  be  sent  to 
the  States  to  raise  troops  to  do  garrison  duty  in  the  frontier 
posts  soon  to  be  given  up  by  England.  In  this  form  the 
motion  was  put  and  carried.*  A  week  later  the  few  troops 
in  the  service  of  Congress  were  disbanded.  Eighty  men  were, 
however,  retained.  Twenty-five  were  sent  to  guard  the  mili 
tary  stores  at  Fort  Pitt,  and  fifty-five  to  do  a  like  duty  at 
West  Point.  The  day  following  an  ordinance  passed  recom- 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  May  26,  1784. 


1784.  CHARACTER   OF  ROBERT   MORRIS.  187 

mending  the  four  States  of  Connecticut,  New  York,  New 
Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania  to  raise  seven  hundred  troops  to 
garrison  the  frontier  for  one  year.* 

The  army  having  no  longer  any  existence,  the  office  of 
Secretary  of  War,  long  held  by  General  Lincoln,  was  left 
vacant.  With  Lincoln  retired  into  private  life  one  whose 
name  is,  even  at  this  distance  of  time,  never  mentioned  with 
out  awakening  sentiments  of  gratitude  and  respect.  While 
the  army  matters  were  still  under  dispute  Congress  listened 
with  deep  regret  to  the  resignation  of  Robert  Morris  who, 
for  three  years,  had  held  the  post  of  Financier. 

Morris  was  an  Englishman,  but  had  come  over  to  the  colo 
nies  while  a  mere  stripling,  had  grown  up  with  the  country, 
as  the  phrase  went,  and  had  come  to  think  himself  in  all 
respects  an  American.  He  was  not  long  in  Philadelphia  when 
he  was  put  out  to  work  and  began  to  run  errands  and  sweep 
out  a  counting-house.  But  he  was  no  ordinary  lad,  and  be 
fore  he  was  thirty  was  a  partner  in  the  great  mercantile  house 
of  the  Willings.  There  he  acquired  immense  wealth,  and 
that  intimate  knowledge  of  the  intricacies  of  commerce  and 
of  trade  which  stood  him  in  such  good  need  when,  a  few 
years  later,  he  found  himself  in  Congress  surrounded  by  judges 
and  lawyers,  small  traders,  and  petty  farmers.  His  riches,  his 
genial  manners,  and  the  princely  hospitality  he  delighted  to 
display  made  his  house  a  favorite  resort  in  the  city.  It  was 
accounted  one  of  the  most  magnificent  in  the  country,  and 
excited  the  admiration  of  men  accustomed  to  the  luxury  and 
splendor  of  kings.  When  the  war  opened  he  was  sent  a 
delegate  to  the  Continental  Congress,  sat  in  that  body  for 
three  years,  put  his  name  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
signed  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  and,  though  he  was  sel 
dom  on  his  feet  to  speak,  exercised  a  powerful  influence.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  secret  committee  charged  with  procuring 
military  supplies  from  abroad.  But  it  was  as  one  of  the  com 
mercial  committee  and  of  the  committee  of  finance  that  he 
particularly  distinguished  himself.  The  great  things  which 
he  then  did  were  long  remembered,  and,  three  years  after,  in 
a  day  of  trial,  when  the  treasury  was  empty,  when  the  credit 

,  *  Journals  of  Congress,  June  3,  1784. 


188          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  11. 

of  the  Government  was  gone,  when  tlie  continental  bills  had 
ceased  to  circulate,  Congress  turned  to  him  as  the  only  man 
who  could  correct  the  disorders  of  the  public  money  and  es 
tablish  a  sound  and  healthy  credit.  The  place  of  Superin 
tendent  of  Finances  was  offered  him.  He  took  it,  and  almost 
immediately  the  effect  of  his  business  habits  and  vigorous 
mind  was  felt.  .Many  reforms  were  instituted,  many  sources 
of  expenditure  were  cut  off.  The  requisitions  on  the  States 
were  more  firmly  enforced.  Their  quotas  were  more  promptly 
paid,  and,  when  the  credit  of  the  Government  was  not  suili- 
cient,  lie  gladly  pledged  his  own. 

In  this  work  he  was  assisted  by  a  young  man  who,  though 
he  bore  the  same  name,  was  not  of  the  same  blood.  Gouver- 
neur  Morris  was  a  native*  of  New  York,  and  came  of  that 
family  whose  name  is  still  given  to  a  vast  district  of  the  city 
beyond  the  Harlem  river.  Of  all  the  young  men  who  had 
then  reached  fame  he  was  the  most  promising.  lie  had  been 
bred  to  the  law  and  early  became  eminent  at  the  bar.  .1  Jo- 
fore  he  was  twenty-four  he  took  his  seat  in  the  Colonial  As 
sembly.  JJefore  he  was  twenty-six  he  was  sent  a  delegate  to 
the  Continental  Congress.  There  he  soon  approved  himself 
a  politician,  a  financier,  an  agreeable  speaker,  a  tine  scholar,  a 
wit,  a  man  devoted  to  business,  yet  noted  for  his  social  ac 
complishments.  No  one  played  a  hotter  hand  at  ombre  or 
quadrille,  told  a  better  story,  or  made  a  more  agreeable  com 
panion  at  a  dinner-party  or  an  assembly.  But  in  Congress  he 
was  an  indefatigable  worker.  An  eloquent  speaker,  a  close 
reasoner,  a  shrewd  observer,  he  at  all  times  commanded  the 
ear  of  the  House ;  but  it  was  as  a  committeeinan  that  he  made 
himself  especially  felt.  His  name  was  down  upon  the  jour 
nals  as  a  member  of  three  very  important  committees — that 
for  the  conduct  of  foreign  negotiations,  that  for  the  organiza 
tion  of  the  army,  and  that  on  national  finances.  It  was  while 
busily  engaged  on  the  finances  that  his  unusual  abilities  at 
tracted  the  attention  of  Robert  Morris.  The  knowledge  which 
he  displayed  on  tho  most  puzzling  money  matters,  and  the 
acuteness  with  which  he  reasoned  on  the  most  intricate  ques 
tions  of  commerce  and  trade  would  have  done  credit  to  the 
oldest  inerchaD*  in  the  StateSj  but  was  remarkable  for  one 


1784.  COIN   IN    CIRCULATION    IN    1830.  ISO 

whose  life  had  been  Bpent  in  drawing  up  briefs  a.n<l  trying 
causes.  When,  therefore,  tlie  office  of  Superintendent  of  the 
Finances  was  made  in  IT-SI,  (iouverneur  Morris  became  as 
sistant  to  his  illustrious  namesake.  Precisely  what  services 
lie  rendered  can  now  never  he  known.  lint  one  of  liis  many 
labors  deserves  extended  mention.  lie  was  the  founder  of 
our  system  of  national  coin  ago. 

There  is  probably  no  man  now  living  whose  memory  goes 
back  to  a  time  when  the  American  people  were  without  a  na 
tional  coinage.  There  is  therefore  no  man  now  living  who 
can  form  a  perfectly  just  conception  of  the  evils  of  the  time 
when  then;  was  no  national  treasury,  no  banks,  and  when  the 
old  stockings  of  the  people  were  full  of  coins  bearing  the 
stamps  of  many  foreign  mints,  called  by  all  manner  of  names, 
and  expressing  different  values  in  different  places.  Vet  there 
arc  many  men  who  can  distinctly  recall  a  time  which  nearly 
resembles  this;  a  time  when  the  coinage,  though  national  in 
name,  was  not  national  in  use  ;  when  there  was  still  one  money 
for  account  and  another  for  exchange  ;  when  tradesmen  still 
expressed  the  price  of  their  wares  in  terms  unknown  to  the 
Federal  system  ;  and  when  there  wen;  still  in  circulation  coins 
whose  names  are  so  utterly  forgotten  as  to  sound  strange  to 
the  ears  of  a  generation  accustomed  to  speak  of  cunts,  of 

r">  I 

dimes,  and  of  quarters.  l^if'ty  years  ago  the  silver  pieces 
which  passed  from  hand  to  hand  under  the  name  of  small 
change  were  largely  made  up  of  foreign  coins.  They  had 
been  in  circulation  long  before  the  war  for  independence, 
had  seen  much  service;,  and  wen;  none  the,  better  for  the  wear 
and  tear  they  had  sustained.  The.  two  commonest  were  the 
eighth  and  sixteenth  of  the  Spanish  milled  dollar,  and  these, 
taking  the  country  through,  passed  under  seven  names.  In 
New  York  and  North  Carolina,  where  eight  shillings  made 
a  dollar,  the  eighth  was  a  shilling,  and  went  by  that  name. 
From  New  .Jersey  to  Maryland  the  same  coin  was  nearly 
equalled  by  eleven  pence,  and  was  there  called  the  oleven- 
ponny-bit  or  the  levy;  but  became,  for  a  like  reason,  ninc- 
pence  in  New  England.  In  the  same  way  the  sixteenth  of 
a  dollar  was  called  sixpence  in  Now  York,  five-penny-bit,  or 
the  fip,  in  Pennsylvania,  and  fonrpcnce  in  New  England.  In 


190          THE  WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  n. 

Louisiana,  the  people  called  it  the  picayune.  Sixpence,  in 
Massachusetts,  meant  eight  and  a  third  cents  ;  a  shilling  meant 
sixteen  and  two  thirds  cents ;  two  and  threepence  was  thirty- 
seven  and  a  half  cents ;  three  shillings  was  fifty  cents ;  four 
and  six  was  seventy-five  cents ;  nine  shillings  was  a  dollar  and 
a  half.  A  merchant,  therefore,  in  place  of  asking  twenty-five 
cents  for  a  yard  of  his  taffeta  or  a  pound  of  his  cheese,  would 
have  demanded  one  and  six,  a  price  which  the  purchaser  of 
the  taffeta  or  the  cheese  would,  if  he  were  so  disposed,  have 
paid  by  putting  down  the  silver  coin  familiar  to  us  as  the 
quarter  of  a  dollar.  Some  shilling  pieces  and  sixpence  pieces 
were  to  be  found  in  circulation  down  even  to  the  civil  war, 
and  were,  with  the  tips,  the  levies,  and  the  pistareens,  the  last 
relics  of  a  time  happily  passed  away.  In  1830  only  the  small 
change  was  of  foreign  coinage.  In  178i  the  entire  coin  of 
the  land,  except  coppers,  was  the  product  of  foreign  mints. 
English  guineas,  crowns,  shillings  and  pence  were  still  paid 
over  the  counters  of  shops  and  taverns,  and  with  them  were 
mingled  many  French  and  Spanish  and  some  German  coins. 
Indeed,  the  close  connection  the  colonies  had  held  with  the 
traders  of  the  Spanish  Indies,  and  the  nearness  of  the  Span 
ish  possessions  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  and  along  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  had  made  Americans  familiar  with  all  denomi 
nations  of  Spanish  coins.  They  had  lon^  circulated  freely 
among  all  classes  of  buyers  and  sellers.  One  of  them,  the 
Spanish  milled  dollar,  had  become  as  much  a  unit  of  value  as 
the  pound.  Others  were  of  great  value,  were  carefully  stowed 
away  in  secret  drawers,  or  rolled  in  old  stockings  and  hidden 
in  the  darkest  hole  in  the  attic,  or  buried  under  the  boards  of 
the  floor,  whence  they  emerged  only  as  quarter-day  came  round, 
or  the  taxes  fell  due.  Such  an  one  was  the  Johannes,  always 
called  the  joe,  a  gold  coin  which  in  June,  1784:,  was  received 
and  paid  at  the  newly  established  Bank  of  ~New  York  at  six 
teen  dollars.*  Next  to  the  joe  in  value  was  the  doubloon,  then 

*  New  York  Packet  of  June  7, 1784.  The  value  of  the  English  guinea  is  there 
given  as  $4f$  ;  of  the  French  guinea  as  $4ff ;  of  the  carolin  as  $4ff  ;  of  the 
chequin  as  $1^6-  ^n  tne  Carolinas  three  other  pieces  of  coin  circulated  that  were 
seldom  seen  in  the  north — the  German  piece,  worth  £1  3s.  4e7. ;  the  half-German 
piece,  valued  at  11s.  8d.  ;  and  the  ducat,  worth  9s.  4d.  There  also  were  quarter- 
joes  and  eighth-joes.  See  Pennsylvania  Packet,  November  28,  1785. 


1784. 


COUNTERFEIT  COIN  IN  1784. 


191 


considered  to  be  worth  fifteen  dollars.  The  half-joe  went  at 
eight  dollars,  the  double  Spanish  pistole  at  seven  dollars  and 
forty-eight  ninety  sixths,  and  the  pistole  at  half  that  value. 
The  moidore  was  a  six-dollar  piece.  These,  with  the  English 
guinea  and  half -guinea,  the  French  guinea,  the  carolin,  the 
five  and  the  two  and  a  half  moidore,  the  double  Johannes, 
the  chequin,  the  quarter  and  eighth  Johannes,  and  the  French 
pistole,  made  up  the  list  of  gold  coins.  The  small  change  was 
of  silver ;  and  among  the  silver  coins  were  the  Spanish  milled 
dollar,  the  half,  quarter,  eighth,  and  sixteenth  of  a  dollar,  the 
English  crown,  the  French  crown,  the  English  shilling,  the 
sixpence,  and  the  pistareen.  The  copper  coins  were  pennies 
and  French  sous.  Each  of  these  coins,  again,  expressed  five 
different  values,  for  it  could  be  translated  into  sterling  money 
and  the  four  local  currencies  of  the  States.* 

These  values,  of  course,  applied  to  no  pieces  which  were 
not  true  and  of  full  weight,  for  counterfeiters  and  clippers  had 
long  been  busy,  and  had  at  last  brought  the  coin  to  such  a 
state  that  it  passed  by  weight  and  not  by  tale.  One  of  the  fa 
vorite  tricks  of  the  counterfeiters  was  to  turn  French  sous  into 
Spanish  moidores.  The  sou  was  a  small  copper  piece,  worth 
about  a  cent,  so  closely  resembling  the  gold  moidore  that  when 
it  was  gilded  over  it  readily  passed  with  the  careless  for  the 
Spanish  piece  worth  thirty-six  shillings.  Another  trick  was 
to  wash  coppers  with  silver  and  pass  them  off  in  a  handful  of 
change  as  English  sixpences.  But  the  clipping  was  worse 


*  NAME   OF 
COIN. 

Sterling 
money. 

New  England 
and  Virginia. 

New  York 
and  North 
Carolina. 

New  Jersey, 
Penna..  Deta., 
and  Maryland. 

South  Carolina 
an'i  Georgia. 

GOLD. 
Johannes  
Half-johannes.. 
Doubloon  

£     *.    d. 
3   12     0 
1    16     0 
360 

£     8.    d. 
4   16     0 
280 

480 

£     s.    d. 
680 
340 
5   16     0 

£     s.    d. 

600 
300 
5   12     6 

£     *.    d. 
4     0     0 
200 
3   10     0 

Moidore 

170 

1160 

280 

250 

180 

English  guinea. 
French  guinea.  . 
Spanish  pistole. 
French  pistole.. 
SILVER. 
Crown  
Dollar  
Shilling  
Sixpence  

110 
110 
0   16     6 
0   16     0 

050 
046 
0     1     0 
006 

1     8     0 
1     7     6 
120 
120 

068 
060 
0     1     4 

008 

1  17     0 
1   16     0 
190 
1     8     0 

089 
080 
019 
0     0  10^ 

1   15     0 
1   14     6 
180 
176 

083 
076 
0     1     8 
0     0  10 

119 

1     1     5 
0  18     0 

0  17     6 

050 
048 
010 
006 

Pistareen.  .  . 

0     0  10? 

012 

017 

016 

0     0  11 

192          THE   WEAKNESS   OF   THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

than  the  counterfeiting,  for  scarce  a  coin  from  a  joe  to  a  pis- 
tareen  could  be  found  which  had  not  at  some  time  been  sub 
jected  to  the  shears.  For  much  of  the  clipping  and  paring 
the  people  were  to  be  held  responsible ;  but  the  Government 
itself  had,  in  an  hour  of  dire  extremity,  resorted  to  the  same 
practice  as  a  desperate  means  of  increasing  its  funds.  In  1782 
a  great  sum  came  over  from  France,  as  another  addition  to 
the  thousands  of  livres  already  loaned  by  Louis,  and  with  it 
came  a  solemn  assurance  that  this  loan  was  indeed  the  last ; 
that  the  royal  treasury  was  empty  ;  that  the  King  could  loan 
no  more.  The  coins  were  therefore  to  be  doled  out  with  the 
utmost  frugality.  Many  were  bright  and  of  full  weight,  and 
full  weight  in  France  was  far  above  the  weight  required  in 
America.  The  people,  moreover,  were  then  paying  and  receiv 
ing  coin  in  payment  by  tale.  If  at  such  a  time  the  Govern 
ment  were  to  pay  out  by  tale  the  overweight  guineas,  the 
Treasury  would  be  the  loser  by  a  goodly  sum ;  for  it  was  as 
certain  as  anything  could  be  that  the  very  first  man  who  re 
ceived  a  handful  of  the  pieces  would  at  once  carry  them  to 
the  nearest  goldsmith,  and,  for  a  penny  each,  have  them  re 
duced  to  the  lowest  limit  allowed  by  law.  That  the  Gov 
ernment  should  be  impoverished  that  creditors  might  be  en 
riched  beyond  their  just  dues,  seemed  quite  unreasonable. 
"When,  therefore,  some  of  the  coins  were  sent  to  Timothy 
Pickering  to  be  used  in  payment  of  the  debts  of  the  quar 
termaster's  department,  there  came  with  them  orders  that  he 
himself  should  clip  them,  as  the  Government  was  too  poor  to 
bear  the  charge  of  the  goldsmiths.  The  duty  was  one  from 
which  naturally  he  shrank,  but  the  letter  is  still  preserved  in 
which  he  begs  that  the  necessary  implements — the  anvil,  the 
punch,  and  the  shears — may  be  sent  him,  and  asks  that  he  be 
informed  how  the  goldsmiths  put  in  their  plugs.'* 

*  The  correspondence  that  took  place  between  Hodgdon  and  Pickering  is  worth 
quoting.  "The  Financier,1' says  Hodgdon  in  his  letter  of  December  23,  1782, 
"  will  not  permit  the  Continent  to  be  a  loser  by  the  gold.  The  consequence  is 
obvious.  You  must  select  all  the  French  guineas  and  leave  them  for  exchange  in 
this  city,  as  well  the  light  as  the  overweight,  as  their  current  value  is  not  equal  in 
the  State  of  New  York ;  the  other  pieces  must  be  clipped.  The  price  demanded 
is  one  penny  for  each  piece ;  but  this,  it  seems,  cannot  be  allowed.  It  only  re 
mains,  therefore,  for  you  to  say  whether  you  will  pay  it  or  cut  the  pieces  to  the 


1784.  THE   CLIPPING  OF   COIN.  193 

The  clipping  done  by  the  Government  differed  from  the 
clipping  done  by  the  rogues  in  that  it  stopped  when  the  last 
grain  the  law  would  allow  had  been  taken.  At  this  point  sharp 
ers  and  counterfeiters  began  their  work,  and  went  so  far  that  it 
was  no  longer  safe  to  take  any  sum  of  money  in  discharge  of  a 
debt  till  every  coin  in  the  batch  had  been  duly  weighed  in  the 
balance.  The  day,  indeed,  seemed  near  at  hand  when,  as 
Washington  said,  every  man  would  be  constrained  to  travel 
with  a  pair  of  balances  in  his  pocket,  or  run  the  risk  of  re 
ceiving  gold  and  silver  at  one  fourth  less  by  weight  than  by 
count,  and  when,  as  Teague  complained,  there  would  be  five 
quarters  to  every  dollar.* 

But  the  evils  Teague  treated  in  jest  were  soon  to  be 
treated  in  earnest.  All  men  who  made  large  purchases,  who 
handled  large  sums  of  money,  or  who  travelled  from  Boston 
to  Charleston,  felt  that  the  state  of  the  currency  was  most 
lamentable.  To  be  one  day  paying  bills  with  silver  dollars  in 
Boston  at  six  shillings,  the  next  week  in  New  York  at  eight 
shillings,  four  days  later  at  seven  shillings  and  sixpence  in 
Philadelphia,  and  a  month  afterward  at  four  shillings  and 
sixpence  in  Charleston,  had  become  an  intolerable  nuisance. 
There  seemed  to  be  no  reason  whatever,  now  that  the  war  was 
over,  now  that  the  States  were  united  in  one  Confederation, 
why  something  should  not  be  done,  and  speedily  done,  to  make 

standard  weight  yourself.  The  last  mode  has  been  preferred  by  Mr.  Peirce,  and 
he  informs  me  it  is  easily  and  speedily  executed  with  common  shears."  Mr.  Peirce 
was  paymaster-general  of  the  army,  and  had  undoubtedly  a  large  experience  in 
cutting  and  clipping  the  coin  paid  out  to  the  troops.  To  the  note  of  Hodgdon, 
Pickering  replied  on  December  24,  1782:  "I  must  trouble  you  for  the  necessary 
apparatus  for  clipping.  'Tis  a  shameful  business,  and  an  unreasonable  hardship 
on  a  public  officer.  I  am  not  certain  that  I  will  receive  any  more  bank  gold  on 
such  odious  conditions.  A  pair  of  good  shears,  a  couple  of  punches,  and  a  leaden 
anvil  of  two  or  three  pounds'  weight.  Will  you  inquire  how  the  goldsmiths  put 
in  their  plugs?  "  Life  of  T.  Pickering  by  0.  Pickering,  vol.  i,  p.  388. 

*  "  Without  a  coinage,  or  unless  some  stop  can  be  put  to  the  cutting  and  clip 
ping  of  money,  our  dollars,  pistareens,  etc.,  will  be  converted,  as  Teague  says,  into 
five  quarters ;  and  a  man  must  travel  with  a  pair  of  scales  in  his  pocket,  or  run 
the  risk  of  receiving  gold  at  one  fourth  less  by  weight  than  it  counts."  Wash 
ington  to  Grayson,  August  22,  1785.  "  Teague"  was,  one  hundred  years  ago,  used 
in  much  the  same  way  that  "  Pat "  is  at  present.  It  was  the  popular  name  for  an 
Irishman,  and  may  in  that  sense  be  found  scattered  through  the  comedies  and 
novels  of  the  time.  See  Modern  Chivalry;  also,  Independent  Gazetteer, Sept.  22,1792. 
VOL.  i. — 14 


194          THE   WEAKNESS  OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  IT. 

a  dollar  contain  the  same  number  of  coppers  in  the  rice-swamps 
of  the  Carolinas,  in  the  inns  and  coffee-houses  of  New  York, 
on  the  exchange  at  Boston.  This  sentiment  was  as  strong  in 
Congress  as  among  the  people.  Twice  since  the  close  of  the 
war  the  House  had  brought  the  state  of  the  currency  under  dis 
cussion,  and  had  twice  listened  to  schemes  for  relief.  Each  of 
the  two  schemes  proposed  the  establishment  of  a  new  unit  of 
value,  the  erection  of  mints  and  the  coinage  of  a  national  cur 
rency  as  the  most  expeditious,  the  most  simple,  the  most  eco 
nomical  way  out  of  the  difficulty.  The  first  was  the  work  of 
Gouverneur  Morris.  The  second  was  the  work  of  Thomas 
Jefferson.  The  idea  of  a  national  mint  was  not,  it  is  true,  a 
new  one.  Three  years  before  the  plan  of  Morris  was  read 
in  Congress  it  was  proposed,  in  an  hour  of  danger  and  of 
gloom,  to  strike  copper  pennies.  The  currency  was  then  so 
debased  that  forty  dollars  in  paper  could  not  purchase  one  in 
silver.  Change  was  so  scarce  that  it  was  a  white  day  when 
tradesmen  could  lay  down  a  few  coppers  in  return  for  the 
dirty  Continental  bills  offered  in  payment  of  bushels  of  wheat 
and  slices  of  bacon.  To  relieve  this  pressing  want  of  small 
coin  it  was  suggested  that  a  great  number  of  copper  pennies 
be  struck  and  thrown  into  circulation.  The  suggestion  was 
favorably  received,  and  the  designs  for  the  coppers  made  ready ; 
but  it  is  well  for  the  good  name  of  our  country  that  what  .was 
proposed  in  a  day  of  wrath  was  never  carried  out  to  be  bitterly 
repented  in  a  day  of  peace.  For  the  coins  were  to  serve  not 
merely  as  a  medium  of  exchange,  but  were  to  teach  princi 
ples  of  sound  morality  and  strict  economy  while  they  inflamed 
the  passions  of  the  people  by  keeping  awake  the  recollection 
of  deeds  that  could  not  too  soon  be  forgotten.  On  one  side  of 
the  pennies  were  to  be  stamped  representations,  prepared  by 
the  best  French  artists,  of  the  barbarities  which  the  English 
officers  were  then  inflicting  on  the  unhappy  captives  in  the 
prison-ships  and  churches  of  New  York.  On  the  other  side 
were  to  be  short  sentences  drawn  from  the  wisdom  of  Solo 
mon  or  the  wisdom  of  the  people.  Great  care  was  to  be  exer 
cised  in  the  selection  of  the  passages,  that  men  of  every  occu 
pation  in  life  might  find  a  precept  exactly  fitted  to  themselves. 
Merchants  were  to  be  reminded  that  "  Honesty  is  the  best  pol 


1782.   GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS'S  PLAN  FOR   A   COINAGE.    195 

icy " ;  housekeepers,  that  "  A  penny  saved  is  a  penny  got." 
For  ploughboys  and  farmers  there  were  to  be  the  lines, 
"  He  who  by  the  plough  would  thrive, 

Himself  must  either  hold  or  drive," 

while  shopkeepers  were  to  receive  the  injunction,  "  Keep  thy 
shop  and  thy  shop  will  keep  thee."  It  requires  no  critical 
sagacity  to  recognize  in  this  the  handiwork  of  Benjamin 
Franklin.* 

But  the  coinage  of  a  few  pennies  was  a  very  different 
thing  from  the  coinage  of  a  new  currency,  nothing  short  of 
which  was  what  Morris  proposed.  On  the  seventh  of  January, 
1782,  a  resolution  was  passed  by  Congress  calling  on  the  Finan 
cier  to  submit  a  statement  of  the  values  at  which  foreign  coin 
should  be  received  and  paid  out  at  the  Treasury.  A  week  later 
the  report  was  read ;  but  all  that  portion  which  relates  to  the 
creation  of  a  national  currency  was,  as  he  afterward  frankly 
owned,  not  his  work,  but  the  work  of  his  assistant,  Gouver- 
neur  Morris. 

He  began  with  a  succinct  and  clear  statement  of  w^hat  he 
believed  were  the  three  essentials  of  the  new  currency. f  In 
the  first  place,  it  was,  he  said,  necessary  that  the  new  pieces 
should  be  perfectly  intelligible  to  the  multitude,  and  in  order 
to  be  perfectly  intelligible  to  the  multitude  it  was  necessary 
that  they  should  bear  a  close  relation  to  the  coins  then  in  use. 
This  was  undoubtedly  true.  It  would  have  been  the  height 
of  folly  to  expect  that  after  having  been  accustomed  all  his 
life  to  buy  and  sell  and  make  change  with  one  kind  of 
money,  the  merchant  would,  on  a  sudden,  throw  away  the 
familiar  coins  and  adopt  new  ones  bearing  no  relation  what 
ever  to  those  they  had  displaced.  In  an  instant  all  business 
would  have  been  at  a  standstill.  Tradesmen  would  have 
been  at  a  loss  to  know  what  sum  of  the  new  currency  to 
demand  for  their  calamancoes  and  durants.  Buyers  would 
have  been  tortured  with  apprehensions  of  extortion.  Dis- 


*  See  a  letter  of  Franklin  to  Edward  Bridgen,  October  2,  1779.  Franklin's 
Works,  vol.  viii,  p.  383. 

f  The  plan  as  laid  out  by  Morris  is  given  in  Diplomatic  Correspondence  of  the 
American  Revolution,  vol.  xii,  p.  91.  See  also  Sparks's  Life  of  G.  Morris,  vol.  i, 
pp.  273-276.  To  him  we  are  indebted  for  the  word  cent. 


196          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

trust  and  suspicion  would  have  been  everywhere  great,  but 
greatest  among  the  most  ignorant  and  helpless.  Every  field- 
hand,  every  laborer,  every  housemaid  would  have  felt  sure 
that  the  wages  received  in  the  new  money  were  far  less  in 
amount  than  the  wages  received  in  the  old  money.  Morris 
had  determined,  therefore,  that  the  coins  he  proposed  to  bring 
in  should  square  with  the  coins  he  proposed  to  drive  out. 

In  the  second  place,  he  believed  it  to  be  necessary,  in 
order  to  meet  the  demands  of  commerce,  that  the  lowest  divis 
ible  sum  of  money,  or  the  unit,  should  be  very  small.  For  it 
was,  he  said,  only  when  the  unit  was  small  that  the  price 
could,  in  little  things,  be  made  to  bear  some  proportion  to  the 
value. 

In  the  third  place,  it  was  desirable,  though  not  abso 
lutely  necessary,  that  money  should  increase  in  decimal  ratio. 
When  the  ratio  of  increase  was  a  decimal  one,  the  calculation 
of  interest,  of  exchange,  of  insurance,  was  simply  and  easily 
performed.  When  the  ratio  of  increase  was  not  a  decimal 
one,  such  matters  required  time,  labor,  and  reflection,  and 
were  much  too  puzzling  to  be  performed  by  the  ignorant. 
Then  was  it  that  the  great  number  who  did  not  know  were 
sure  to  be  made  the  dupes  of  the  small  number  who  did  know. 
As  to  the  unit,  it  was  hard  to  determine  what  it  should  be. 
The  coins  which  had  circulated  in  America  had  undergone  so 
many  different  changes  that  none  among  them  could  be  looked 
upon  as  a  standard,  unless,  indeed,  it  was  the  Spanish  dollar ; 
and  the  Spanish  dollar  passed  at  five  shillings,  at  six  shillings, 
at  seven  shillings  and  sixpence,  at  eight  shillings,  at  thirty-two 
shillings  and  sixpence.  Taking  this  dollar,  however,  as  the 
most  available  standard,  and  disregarding  the  last  value,  the 
money  unit  to  agree  without  a  fraction  with  the  remaining 
values  of  the  dollar  would,  he  said,  be  the  fourteen  hundred 
and  fortieth  part  of  a  dollar,  or,  what  was  the  same  thing,  the 
sixteen  hundredth  part  of  a  crown.  It  was  not,  of  course, 
necessary  that  the  unit,  equal  in  value  to  the  quarter  of  a 
grain  of  pure  silver,  should  be  exactly  represented  in  coin. 
All  purposes  would  be  served  by  striking  two  copper  coins, 
one  containing  five  units  and  called  a  Five,  and  one  contain 
ing  eight  units  and  called  an  Eight.  Three  Fives  would  make 


1784.  JEFFERSON'S  PLAN.  197 

a  penny  New  York  and  North  Carolina  money.  Four  Fives 
would  make  a  penny  lawful  or  Virginia  money.  Two  Eights 
would  make  a  penny  Proclamation  or  Pennsylvania  money, 
while  three  Eights  would  make  a  penny  Georgia  money.  By 
this  means  the  dullest  of  men  could  rapidly  convert  pennies  of 
the  present  currency  into  pennies  of  the  proposed  currency, 
and  once  in  the  proposed  currency,  he  could  with  still  greater 
ease  proceed  to  express  them  in  dollars,  or  quints,  or  crowns, 
by  simply  dividing  by  the  proper  number.  For  purposes  of 
coinage,  he  proposed  that  ten  quarters,  a  quarter  was  to  be  the 
name  of  the  unit,  should  make  a  penny ;  ten  pence  a  bill ;  ten 
bills  a  dollar;  ten  dollars  a  crown.  The  crown  American 
money  was  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  crown  English 
money.  The  name  had  been  suggested  by  the  device,  and  the 
device  was  an  Indian  standing  with  his  right  foot  on  a  crown, 
and  holding  in  his  left  hand  a  bow,  in  his  right  hand  thirteen 
arrows.  About  him  was  to  be  the  inscription,  "  Mantis  inimica 
tyrannis." 

To  this  report  of  the  Financier  Congress  listened  with 
great  attention,  and  with  its  usual  dilatorhiess  suffered  the 
matter  to  drop  for  another  year.  In  1783  the  money  question 
was  again  taken  up,  was  again  expounded  in  a  letter  from  the 
Financier,  to  be  once  more  laid  aside  for  another  year,  when 
the  whole  subject  was  referred  to  a  committee  of  which  Jef 
ferson  was  a  member.  The  report  of  the  committee  was  his 
work,  and  differs  in  but  few  respects  from  that  of  Morris. 
The  principle,  he  said,  of  the  Financier  was  sound  and  in 
genious.  The  suggestion  of  the  Spanish  dollar  as  the  unit, 
and  the  decimal  system  of  subdivision,  were,  to  his  rnind,  par 
ticularly  deserving  of  commendation.  The  dollar  was  an 
excellent  unit,  because,  in  the  first  place,  of  all  coins  it  was, 
the  most  familiar  to  the  people,  and  because,  in  the  second' 
place,  it  might  almost  be  considered  to  have  been  already 
adopted  as  a  unit.  The  public  debt,  the  requisitions  and  their 
apportionments,  were  invariably  expressed  not  in  pounds,  but 
in  dollars.  Indeed,  the  pound  was  the  only  unit  that  could  be 
brought  forward  in  competition  with  the  dollar.  But  what 
was  the  pound  ?  It  had  one  value  in  the  New  England  States, 
another  value  in  the  Middle  States,  a  third  value  in  North 


198          THE    WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

Carolina,  and  a  fourth  in  Georgia.  Which  of  these  should  be 
adopted  ?  To  which  State  should  be  given  that  pre-eminence 
of  which  all  were  so  jealous  ?  As  to  the  pound  sterling,  that 
was  not  to  be  thought  of,  for  if  it  were  hard  to  accustom  the 
people  to  a  new  coin,  it  was  much  harder  to  make  them  famil 
iar  with  a  new  coin  with  an  old  name.  Happily,  none  of 
these  objections  could  be  lodged  against  the  dollar. 

The  decimal  system  was  excellent  because  it  was  so  easy. 
Every  one  who  would  recall  his  school  days  must  remember 
how,  when  learning  the  money  arithmetic,  he  used  to  be  puz 
zled  with  adding  the  farthings,  taking  out  the  fours  and  carry 
ing  them  on ;  adding  the  pence,  taking  out  the  twelves  and 
carrying  them  on ;  adding  the  shillings,  taking  out  the  twenties 
and  carrying  them  on ;  and  how,  when  he  came  to  the  pounds, 
where  he  had  only  tens  to  carry  forward,  the  work  became 
perfectly  simple.  The  same  applied  to  men.  In  truth,  the 
bulk  of  mankind  w^ere  school-boys  through  life.  Little  per 
plexities  were  always  great  to  them,  and  they  always  felt 
thankful  when  an  easy  was  substituted  for  a  difficult  pro 
cess.  But  the  plan  of  the  Financier,  good  as  it  was,  had  one 
serious  defect.  His  unit  was  to  be  the  fourteen  hundred  and 
fortieth  part  of  a  dollar.  This  was  entirely  too  small.  It 
was  much  better  to  keep  strictly  to  the  decimal  system,  and 
have  the  dollar  contain  but  an  hundred  units.  This  would, 
moreover,  differ  but  little  from  the  penny  of  New  England, 
of  which  one  hundred  and  eight  made  a  dollar ;  still  less  from 
the  copper  of  New  York,  which  was  the  ninety-sixth  part ; 
and  but  a  little  more  from  the  penny  of  the  rest  of  the  Middle 
States,  where  a  dollar  contained  ninety. 

Adopting  the  dollar,  therefore,  as  the  unit,  and  the  deci 
mal  scale  as  the  system  of  subdivision,  eight  coins  should  be 
struck.  A  gold  piece  equal  in  value  to  ten  dollars ;  the  silver 
dollar,  or  unit ;  the  silver  half-dollar ;  the  silver  double-tenth, 
equal  to  the  pistareen  ;  the  tenth,  equal  to  a  Spanish  bit ;  the 
five  copper  piece,  also  of  silver,  and  equal  to  a  half -bit ;  and  the 
hundredth  of  a  dollar,  or  the  copper.  The  gold  piece  would 
then  be  a  fifth  more  than  the  half-joe,  and  a  fifteenth  more 
than  a  double-guinea. 

When  Morris  heard  of  his  plan  as  modified  by  Jefferson, 


1784.  MORRIS   OBJECTS  TO   THE  PLAN  OF  JEFFERSOK    199 

he  declared  it  to  be  open  to  grave  objections.  The  proposed 
penny,  or  cent,  said  he,  or  one  hundredth  of  a  dollar,  will  not 
apply  to  any  currency  in  America.  It  is  nothing  better  than 
a  British  half -penny.  Nine  of  them,  to  be  exact,  will  go  for 
eightpence  New  York  currency;  six  will  make  fivepence 
Pennsylvania  money;  three  will  pass  as  twopence  in  New 
England  and  Virginia ;  nine  will  equal  fivepence  in  Georgia, 
while  twenty-seven  will  be  counted  as  fourteenpence  in  South 
Carolina.  Nay,  more,  the  dollar  itself  is  a  fractional  sum 
when  compared  with  present  currencies.  This  being  the  case, 
it  was  past  his  comprehension  that  any  one  should  suppose 
the  people  of  America  would  throw  away  their  local  moneys 
to  take  up  a  general  money  that  was  accurately  related  to 
nothing  but  the  pounds,  shillings,  and  pence  of  Great  Britain. 
The  thing  was  preposterous.  The  same  reasoning  should  ap 
ply  to  the  manufacture  of  coin  that  should  apply  to  the  manu 
facture  of  scythes.  Suppose  the  Government  was  about  un 
dertaking  to  make  these  implements  of  agriculture.  Would 
not  every  rational  man  expect  them  to  choose  to  make  such 
as  would  be  most  suitable  to  the  mowers  of  America,  though 
perhaps  longer  or  shorter  than  the  scythes  in  use  among  the 
Alps  ?  In  like  manner  it  would  be  prudent  for  the  money 
makers  to  turn  out  such  kind  of  coin  as  would  please  the 
merchants,  though  it  might  not  square  precisely  with  the  cur 
rency  of  Amsterdam  or  London.  To  make  a  money  that 
involved  the  assumption  or  rejection  of  fractions  was  to  im 
itate  the  bed  of  Procrustes.  If  the  patient  is  too  short  for 
the  bed,  stretch  him ;  if  too  long,  clip  him.* 

The  arguments  of  Morris,  sound  as  they  were,  failed  to 

*  Sparks's  Life  of  Gouverneur  Morris,  vol.  i,  p.  279.  Morris  then  urged  on 
the  committee  another  plan,  in  which  the  unit  was  equal  to  twelve  shillings  and 
sixpence  sterling,  which  he  called  a  pound,  and  made  equal  to  one  thousand 
parts.  A  tenth  of  this,  or  one  hundred  parts,  was  to  be  a  shilling ;  a  tenth  of 
this  a  penny,  and  a  tenth  of  a  penny  a  doit.  To  this,  he  claimed,  all  the  curren 
cies  of  the  States  were  reducible  without  a  remainder.  Thus  in  New  England 
five  doits  made  a  penny.  Hence  £10  19.5.  GcL  New  England  money  equalled  2,633 
pence,  equalled  13,165  doits,  or  £13  Is.  Qd.  5  doits  in  the  new  money.  His 
table  of  coin  was  : 

20  doits  =  groat.  600  doits  =  half-crown. 

100      "     =  shilling.  1,200     "     =  crown. 

300     "     =  dollar. 


200          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP,  a 

convince  the  committee,  and  the  scheme  as  modified  by  Jeffer 
son  was  favorably  reported.  But  the  House,  despite  the 
urgent  need  of  a  national  coinage,  suffered  the  matter  to  drop 
for  another  year.  At  last,  on  the  sixth  of  July,  1785,  a  reso 
lution  was  reached,  making  the  dollar  the  unit,  and  the  small 
est  coin  a  half-penny,  of  which  two  hundred  were  to  be  con 
tained  in  a  dollar.  The  plan  of  Morris,  as  amended  by 
Jefferson,  thus  became  the  basis  of  our  present  national  coin 
age.  What  changes  were  made  in  after  years  are  to  be 
ascribed  to  Hamilton. 

A  few  days  after  the  passage  of  Jefferson's  Land  Bill,  Con 
gress  decided  to  adjourn  till  October.  Never,  perhaps,  since 
legislative  assemblies  came  into  use  had  there  appeared  quite 
so  remarkable  a  body  of  men  as  the  Continental  Congress  then, 
for  the  first  time  in  its  existence,  about  to  take  a  recess.  His 
tory  indeed  preserves  the  memory  of  but  two  which  can  with 
any  justice  be  compared  with  it — the  Long  Parliament  that 
cut  off  the  head  of  Charles  I.,  and  the  National  Convention 
that  cut  off  the  head  of  Louis  XVI.  Both  the  Long  Parlia 
ment  and  the  National  Convention,  like  the  Continental  Con 
gress,  seized  upon  the  Government,  made  themselves  for  many 
years  the  chief  power  in  the  State,  levied  taxes,  raised  armies, 
waged  wars,  concluded  treaties,  and  at  last  fell  from  power, 
overwhelmed  with  hatred  and  contempt.  But  here  the  re 
semblance  ends.  The  memory  of  the  Long  Parliament  and 
the  National  Convention  is  bound  up  with  much  that  is  dark 
est  and  saddest  in  the  history  of  England  and  of  France :  with 
the  murder  of  kings ;  with  the  confiscation  of  estates ;  with 
civil  war;  with  bills  of  attainder  and  acts  of  proscription; 
with  all  the  miseries  of  the  prison-house  and  all  the  horrors  of 
the  guillotine.  The  memory  of  the  Continental  Congress  is 
bound  up  with  that  portion  of  our  national  history  which  we 
contemplate  with  feelings  of  peculiar  pride :  with  the  sacri 
fices  and  the  sufferings,  more  cruel  than  the  grave,  of  the 
eight  years  of  war;  with  the  poverty,  the  struggles  of  the 
six  years  of  peace  that  preceded  the  organization  of  the 
Federal  Government.  The  republics  which  the  Long  Parlia 
ment  and  the  National  Convention  set  up  have  long  since 
disappeared  from  the  face  of  the  earth.  The  republic  which 


1784.      DECLINE   OF  THE   AUTHORITY   OF   CONGRESS.       201 

the  Continental  Congress  set  up  still  endures.  The  work  at 
tempted  by  the  Parliament  and  the  Convention  was  left  half 
done.  The  work  undertaken  by  Congress  was  most  complete 
ly  done.  From  the  day  when,  as  a  gathering  of  consulting 
delegates,  Congress  met  at  Philadelphia,  it  boldly  seized  the 
reins  of  Government,  assumed  the  leadership  of  the  States, 
declared  independence,  levied  taxes,  issued  money,  raised 
armies,  contracted  foreign  loans,  guided  the  States  successfully 
through  an  eight-years'  war,  and  won  from  the  mother  country 
an  acknowledgment  of  the  independence  so  fearlessly  asserted* 
But  there  its  usefulness  ended.  The  decline  of  its  authority, 
which  had  begun  while  the  war  was  still  going  on,  became, 
after  the  peace,  astonishingly  rapid.  It  had,  in  the  language 
of  the  pot-house,  more  than  once  been  made  to  eat  dirt.  The 
daily  session  resembled  the  play  of  boys  rather  than  the  de 
liberations  of  men.  To  make  requisitions  that  never  were 
paid,  grants  that  came  to  nothing,  resolutions  that  never  were 
carried  out,  constituted,  with  the  bickering,  wrangling  and 
disputes,  and  the  reports  of  all  manner  of  committees,  the 
business  of  the  House  from  one  week's  end  to  another. 
Meanwhile,  the  people,  disgusted  by  the  inertness  of  the  mem 
bers  of  Congress,  and  alarmed  by  the  perpetual  session  and 
the  demands  for  more  extensive  powers,  became  clamorous. 
The  newspapers  abounded  with  jibes,  taunts,  and  scurrility. 
The  great  Whig  party,  indeed,  was  split  into  two  sections — the 
impost  and  the  non-impost  men ;  the  defenders  and  the  de 
tractors  of  Congress.  In  the  first  section,  decidedly  the  more 
respectable,  were  to  be  found  the  merchants  and  importers  of 
the  great  towns,  the  holders  of  loan  certificates,  the  hard- 
money  men,  and  that  little  band  of  stanch  patriots  from 
which  in  after  years  came  the  heads  of  the  Federal  party, 
and  the  first  five  Presidents.  On  the  other  side  was  the  great 
body  of  the  middle  orders,  the  farmers,  the  shopkeepers,  the 
supporters  of  paper  money,  all  those  who  clamored  for  State 
rights,  and  all  those  who  found  themselves  steeped  in  debts 
they  could  not  pay.  With  them  were  associated  many  good, 
brave,  and  moderate  men,  who,  while  they  gave  an  earnest 
support  to  the  established  Government,  looked  with  painful 
misgiving  on  every  attempt  to  enlarge  its  powers  as  an  attack 


202          THE   WEAKNESS  OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

on  the  independence  of  the  States.  Such  an  one  was  Samuel 
Adams.  But  the  reasons  which  Adams  advanced  against  the 
appeals  of  Congress  for  more  extensive  powers  were  such  as 
became  a  man  of  integrity,  sober,  moral,  diligent,  and  accus 
tomed  to  reflect.  The  reasons  which  his  followers  gave  for 
their  conduct  were  such  as  should  not  have  imposed  on  a  tav 
ern  club  after  the  second  bottle  had  gone  round,  or  been  made 
use  of  by  a  ranting  politician  in  the  course  of  his  wildest 
stump-speech  to  a  gathering  of  backwoodsmen  on  the  banks 
of  the  Great  Kanawha.  The  demands,  they  said,  of  Congress 
were  simply  unreasonable.  But  that  was  not  all.  For  every 
demand  was  accompanied  by  a  threat,  or  a  menace,  or  an  an 
nouncement  of  the  most  fatal  consequences  to  the  Confederacy 
if  it  were  not  instantly  complied  with.  Where  did  these  hon 
est  gentlemen  get  so  much  foresight  ?  Were  they  all  seventh 
sons  of  seventh  sons  ?  If  one  could  believe  their  predictions 
he  would  wish  he  had  been  a  negro,  and  carried  oif  to  St. 
John  by  the  Tories.  Now,  nothing  would  do  but  the  con 
gressmen  must  have  the  right  to  levy  impost,  and  fill  every 
seaport,  from  the  province  of  Maine  to  Georgia,  with  a  well- 
paid  army  of  excisemen,  tide-waiters,  and  cellar-rats.  Next, 
they  must  have  an  endowment,  or,  as  they  were  pleased  to  call 
it,  an  assured  revenue,  settled  on  them.  If  they  were  not  al 
lowed  to  take  the  affairs  of  commerce  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
States,  and  regulate  them  as  they  saw  fit,  the  Confederation 
would  go  to  pieces  and  American  shipping  be  driven  from 
the  sea.  The  Indians  would  overrun  the  country  unless  they 
were  permitted  to  pack  every  frontier  settlement  and  fort  with 
an  armed  force  in  times  of  peace.  The  lands  beyond  the 
mountains  must  be  given  up  and  sold  to  speculators  to  pay 
the  interest  on  the  domestic  debt.  But  how,  in  the  mean  time, 
did  these  gentlemen  dispose  of  the  fund  which,  by  stinting 
and  scrimping  and  hoarding,  the  people  were  enabled  to  pay 
into  the  Treasury  ?  Did  they  guard  it  with  the  utmost  vigil 
ance  ?  Did  they  dole  it  out  with  a  frugal  hand  ?  No.  They 
squandered  it  with  reckless  profusion.  Ten  thousand  dollars 
was  given  to  this  noble  foreigner,  five  thousand  to  that,  and  a 
gold  sword  to  the  other.  Another  great  sum  was  to  be  given 
to  the  late  army.  One  hundred  thousand  was  to  be  set  apart 


1784.         THE  PLACE   OF  REASSEMBLING  DEBATED.  203 

to  build  a  Federal  city.  ~No  wonder  that  they  wanted  an  im 
post.  But  it  was  well  to  be  wary.  Little  by  little  Congress, 
with  the  best  intents,  perhaps,  was  seeking  to  take  away  the 
most  sacred  privileges  of  the  States.  It  had  power  enough, 
and  if  any  change  were  to  be  made,  the  question  was  whether 
there  should  not  be  a  curtailment  of  what  already  existed. 

The  men  who  talked  in  this  strain  were  numerous  every 
where.  But  in  Rhode  Island  they  abounded.  Of  the  thir 
teen  States,  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations  had 
always  been  the  most  lukewarm  and  discontented,  and  was 
now  entering  on  that  infamous  course  which  makes  it  impos 
sible  to  read  her  history  down  to  the  day  when  she  entered 
the  Union  under  the  Federal  Constitution  without  feelings  of 
indignation  and  contempt.  No  State  paid  its  quota  more 
grudgingly.  None  was  so  often  without  representation.  None, 
not  even  New  York,  was  actuated  by  so  selfish  and  ungener 
ous  a  policy.  The  vague  theories,  the  wild  schemes  of  finance, 
of  government,  and  of  trade,  which  in  other  States  were  stout 
ly  combated  by  the  good  sense  of  the  community,  seemed, 
in  Rhode  Island,  to  have  been  adopted  by  the  rabble,  and 
there  the  voice  of  the  rabble  was  heard  with  great  respect. 
No  sooner,  therefore,  was  the  cry  raised  against  the  perpetual 
sitting  of  Congress  than  the  Legislature  sent  instructions  to 
the  delegates  at  Annapolis  to  move  a  recess.  Partly  from 
courtesy  and  partly  from  hope  of  profit,  Congress  was  invited 
to  resume  its  session  at  the  city  of  Newport.  A  motion  to 
this  effect  was  accordingly  brought  in  on  the  fourteenth  of 
April.*  An  exciting  debate  followed.  Few  of  the  members 
felt  it  a  grievance  to  be  relieved  from  the  heat  and  dirt  of  the 
town  and  sent  back  to  the  cool  shade  of  their  plantations  and 
their  country-seats  for  the  five  hottest  months  of  the  year. 
But  where  they  should  again  assemble  was  a  question  of  great 
sectional  interest.  The  States  to  the  south  of  the  Potomac 
would  gladly  have  the  session  held  at  Annapolis.  The  Middle 
States  were  for  Philadelphia  or  Trenton.  The  New  England 
States,  with  much  apparent  indifference,  were  for  some  city 
well  to  the  north,  that  the  three  weeks  they  were  used  to  spend 
in  journeying  to  Annapolis  might  be  cut  down  to  at  least  one. 

*  Journals  of  Congress. 


204 '         THE  WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

The  moment,  therefore,  that  Jefferson  could  obtain  a  hearing, 
he  moved  that  the  word  Newport  be  struck  out.  The  ques 
tion  was  put,  and  when  the  ayes  and  nays  had  been  taken,  the 
President  announced  that  the  ayes  had  it.  Mr.  Montgomery 
then  moved  that  the  word  Philadelphia  be  substituted.  But 
the  memory  of  the  insult  of  the  soldiers  and  the  cowardice 
of  the  city  fathers  was  still  fresh,  and  the  motion  was  quickly 
voted  down.  It  was  then  moved  to  postpone.  But  the  ayes 
and  nays  were  again  called,  and  the  President  declared  that 
the  motion  had  passed  in  the  negative.  Jefferson  suggested 
the  word  Alexandria.  But  Alexandria  was  less  to  the  liking 
of  the  House  than  Newport  or  Philadelphia.  Even  the  most 
staid  and  precise  of  the  members  were  little  disposed  to  ban 
ish  themselves  to  a  country  town  where  there  were  no  assem 
bly  nights,  where  a  company  of  actors  never  came,  and  where 
the  chief  divertisement  was  a  card-party  or  an  evening  out 
to  tea.  The  President  therefore  soon  announced  that  the 
motion  was  lost.  Trenton  was  next  moved  as  the  place  of 
meeting,  and,  when  the  vote  was  taken,  it  was  found  that  the 
ayes  had  it.  Jefferson  then  moved  an  amendment  by  the 
insertion  of  the  condition  that  a  committee  of  the  States 
should  be  appointed.  But  the  previous  question  was  instantly 
moved  by  Massachusetts,  and  the  business  went  over  to  the 
twenty-sixth  of  April.  Howell,  who,  with  Ellery,  sat  for 
Rhode  Island,  then  moved  that  the  present  Congress  do 
adjourn  on  the  third  of  June  to  meet  on  the  thirteenth  of 
October  at  Trenton,  and  that  a  committee  of  the  States  be 
appointed  to  sit  in  the  recess  of  Congress.  To  this  the  House 
agreed. 

And  now  that  the  end  of  the  session  was  close  at  hand, 
the  business  before  Congress  was  hurried  up.  Several  minor 
bills  were  disposed  of,  and,  four  days  later,  the  House  listened 
to  the  report  of  the  committee  to  which  had  been  intrusted 
letters  and  papers  relative  to  commerce  and  navigation.  And 
it  was  high  time.  For  nothing,  the  finances  alone  excepted, 
was  in  so  ruinous  a  condition  as  the  commerce  of  the  country. 
Men  began  to  look  back  with  tender  regret  to  the  evil  days 
when  trade  was  hampered  by  the  most  unjust  laws,  when  it 
was  a  high  offence  to  carry  a  ship-load  of  rice  to  France,  and 


1784.  STATE   OF   TRADE   BEFORE   THE  WAR.  205 

when  the  skipper  who  entered  the  port  of  Cadiz  with  a 
cargo  of  tobacco  stood  in  imminent  danger  of  being  laid  by 
the  heels  on  his  return.  The  state  of  commercial  affairs,  the 
grumblers  said,  was  now  far  worse  under  the  liberal  rule  of 
Congress  than  it  was  fifteen  years  ago  under  the  iron  rule  of 
England.  Then,  it  was  true,  the  trader  was  forbidden  to 
carry  his  rice,  his  indigo,  his  tobacco,  his  pitch,  to  any  ports 
but  those  of  Great  Britain.  Now  the  ports  of  England  were 
closed  to  him,  and  the  markets  of  all  other  nations  open. 
Yet  those  were  the  flush  times.  Trade  was  brisk,  smuggling 
was  most  profitable,  money  circulated  freely,  and  the  exports 
far  exceeded  the  imports.  Now  trade  was  stagnant,  the  bal 
ance  of  trade  was  with  the  foreigners,  and  the  country  was 
being  so  rapidly  drained  of  specie  that  the  day  seemed  near 
at  hand  when,  the  people  would  not  have  one  joe  to  rub 
against  another. 

Old  traders  and  importers  might  well  talk  in  this  wise. 
Twenty-five  years  before,  their  ships  were  to  be  seen  at  Suri 
nam,  at  Hispaniola,  at  the  West  Indies,  at  the  Canaries,  in  the 
waters  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  in  the  waters  of  the  North 
Sea.  Their  captains  drove  bargains  in  the  Levant,  and  bar 
tered  rice  and  indigo  for  rum  and  molasses  in  Jamaica.  They 
sold  great  stores  of  corn  at  Lisbon  and  Madrid,  and  every  year 
brought  home  five  thousand  pistoles  for  the  liquor  and  grain 
purchased  by  the  Dutch.  The  New  England  fleet  numbered 
six  hundred  sail.  The  trade  of  the  mother  country  with  her 
colonies  gave  employment  to  eleven  hundred  ships  and  t\ven- 
ty-nine  thousand  sailors.  Much  of  this  was  destroyed  by  the 
Navigation  Act  of  1760,  but  was  soon  made  up  by  a  most  ex 
tensive  system  of  smuggling.  The  Hudson  Bay  Company 
found  no  mean  rival  in  New  York,  wThence  went  out  annually 
great  bales  of  furs  valued  at  more  than  half  a  million  of  pounds 
sterling.  The  lumber  of  Maine  was  still  in  demand.  Nowhere 
could  such  splendid  trees  be  had  for  masts  and  yard-arms,  and 
not  a  few  stately  pines,  which  in  colonial  days  had  been  marked 
with  the  axe  of  the  forest  inspector,  and  set  apart  for  the 
vessels  of  the  Royal  Navy,  found  their  way  to  foreign  ship 
yards.  The  exports  from  Virginia  in  the  opening  year  of  the 
war  rose  to  seven  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  pounds ;  the 


206          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

exports  of  the  Carolinas  to  five  hundred  and  eighty  thousand 
pounds  sterling.  But  the  shipping  was  thickest  in  New  Eng 
land.  Scarcely  a  town  along  the  coast,  Boston,  Gloucester, 
Barnstable,  Falmouth,  New  London,  Martha's  Vineyard,  but 
was  deeply  concerned  in  the  fisheries.  The  whaling  fleet 
numbered  two  hundred  and  four  sail,  more  than  half  of  which 
hailed  from  Nantucket.  The  prosperity  of  that  little  island 
was  indeed  a  matter  of  boast  to  all  New  England.  Then 
came  the  war ;  and  when  peace  returned,  trade,  commerce,  the 
fisheries,  were  gone.  Many  of  the  fishermen  had  set  off  to 
Halifax ;  many  more  would  have  followed  but  for  the  timely 
letter  of  Lafayette  ;  a  few  old  hulks  rotting  in  the  harbor  were 
all  that  remained  of  the  great  fleet.  The  fate  of  Nantucket 
was  but  a  type  of  that  of  the  whole  country.  The  merchant 
marine  had  been  driven  from  the  sea.  The  ports  of  European 
countries  had  been  so  long  closed  to  American  shipping  that 
little  demand  existed  for  American  goods.  The  old  markets 
were  shut.  Yet  the  consumption  of  English  goods  wTas  as 
large  as  ever.  The  imports  from  England  to  America  in  1784 
summed  up  to  three  million  seven  hundred  thousand  pounds 
sterling.  The  exports  from  America  to  England  amounted  to 
but  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds.  The  conse 
quence  was  a  great  drain  of  specie.  Dollars,  guineas,  joes, 
moidores  grew  scarcer  and  scarcer  every  day.  Merchants 
were  unable  to  meet  their  payments ;  embarrassment  and  dis 
tress  followed,  and  a  great  cry  for  paper  money  was  raised. 
Nor  were  matters  at  all  benefited  by  the  action  of  the  States. 
Congress  had  no  power  to  regulate  commerce,  but  each  State, 
left  to  itself,  ordered  its  own  trade  in  its  own  way ;  and  the 
way  of  one  State  was  always  different  from  the  way  of  an 
other.  The  commerce  which  Massachusetts  found  it  to  her 
interest  to  encourage,  Virginia  found  it  to  hers  to  restrict. 
New  York  would  not  protect  the  trade  in  indigo  and  pitch. 
South  Carolina  cared  nothing  for  the  success  of  the  fur  in 
terests.  New  England  derived  great  revenues  from  lumber, 
oil,  and  potashes  ;  Pennsylvania  from  corn  and  grain,  and 
were  in  nowise  concerned  as  to  the  prosperity  of  the  trade 
of  their  neighbors.  Articles  which  Connecticut  and  New 
Jersey  excluded  from  their  ports  by  heavy  tonnage  duties 


1784.  COMPLAINTS  OF  THE   MERCHANTS.  207 

entered  New  York  with  scarcely  any  other  charges  than  light 
money. 

But  the  evils  produced  by  the  narrow  policy  at  home  were 
slight  compared  with  the  evils  produced  by  the  narrow  policy 
abroad.  The  duties  laid  by  the  States  affected  particular  lo 
calities,  and  particular  branches  of  industry  and  trade.  The 
restrictions  imposed  by  England  affected  every  State  and  every 
article  of  commerce,  for  she  had  forbidden  American  goods 
to  enter  her  ports  unless  they  came  in  English  ships.  And 
now  the  merchants  cried  out  that  ruin  stared  them  in  the  face. 
The  demand,  they  said,  for  goods  of  English  make,  tammies, 
calamancoes,  durants,  brocades,  damasks,  and  Irish  linens,  was 
greatly  in  excess  of  the  demand  for  the  fabrics  of  French  or 
Dutch  make.  Yet  from  this  lucrative  traffic  they  were  cut 
off.  They  could  no  longer  load  their  ships  with  the  products 
of  the  plantations  and  the  farms,  dispatch  them  to  Liverpool, 
to  London,  to  Queenstown,  and  bring  home  in  exchange  bales 
of  the  stuffs  which  found  so  ready  a  market  even  in  the  small 
est  inland  towns.  And  for  all  this  there  seemed  to  be  no  help. 
When  one  State  laid  some  burden  on  the  commerce  of  an 
other,  a  cure  might  be  hoped  for  in  retaliation.  But  with 
England  retaliation  was  quite  out  of  the  question.  The  very 
first  State  patriotic  enough  to  close  her  ports  to  English  goods 
unless  they  came  in  American  ships  would  speedily  find  her 
sister  States,  far  from  imitating  her  example,  smothering  all 
feelings  of  national  pride,  and  holding  out  every  inducement 
for  English  merchantmen  to  come  to  their  ports.  Nay,  more  : 
should  any  twelve  States  band  together,  settle  on  some  scheme 
of  retaliation,  and  carry  it  rigidly  into  effect,  the  thirteenth 
would  be  the  Judas  to  betray  them  all  for  British  gold.  In 
such  a  pass  it  was  clearly  the  duty  of  Congress  to  take  the 
state  of  commerce  into  serious  consideration,  and  seek  dili 
gently  for  some  cure  for  the  evils  that  threatened  so  soon  to 
destroy  it. 

Such  also  was  the  opinion  of  the  House,  and  early  in 
the  spring  a  grand  committee  was  appointed,  to  which  were 
intrusted  numerous  letters,  addresses,  and  memorials  on  com 
mercial  matters,  which  had,  for  some  time  past,  been  accumu 
lating  in  the  hands  of  the  secretary.  On  the  committee  were 


208          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

Jefferson,  Williamson,  Gerry  of  Massachusetts,  Read  of  South 
Carolina,  and  Chase  of  Maryland.  They  reported  on  the  thir 
tieth  of  April.  The  trust,  they  said,  which  the  people  had  re 
posed  in  Congress  made  it  the  duty  of  that  body  to  prevent, 
or  at  least  restrain,  everything  likely  to  prove  injurious  to  the 
United  States.  The  condition  of  commerce  at  the  present 
time  was  most  injurious  to  the  United  States.  Few  subjects 
indeed  of  greater  importance  could  present  themselves  to  the 
attention  of  the  people.  The  fortune  of  every  citizen  was 
bound  up  in  commerce.  It  was  the  constant  source  of  wealth ; 
it  was  the  incentive  to  industry ;  with  it  rose  or  fell  the  value 
of  produce  and  the  value  of  land.  And  now  Great  Britain 
had  adopted  regulations  ruinous  to  the  West  Indian  trade.  It 
had  seemed  at  first  but  reasonable  to  expect  that  measures  so 
unequal  and  so  ill-suited  to  promote  mercantile  intercourse 
would  not  be  persisted  in  for  any  great  length  of  time  by  an 
enlightened  people.  But  this  was  a  mistake.  They  were  rap 
idly  growing  into  a  system,  and  unless  Congress  was  given 
power  to  lay  similar  restrictions  on  the  commerce  of  England, 
that  of  the  States  must  decline  and  inevitably  be  annihilated. 
It  wras  therefore  urged  that  the  House  most  strenuously  recom 
mend  the  Legislatures  to  make  over  to  Congress,  for  fifteen 
years,  the  management  of  commercial  affairs,  and  give  it 
power  to  forbid  goods,  wares,  and  merchandise  to  enter  their 
ports  unless  brought  in  ships  owned  or  sailed  by  American 
citizens,  or  the  subjects  of  such  powers  as  should  from  time 
to  time  make  treaties  of  commerce  with  America.  In  this 
motion  the  majority  concurred. 

May  was  now  at  hand,  and  as  the  day  of  adjournment  was 
not  far  distant,  what  little  business  was  before  the  House  was 
hurried  on.  Notice  was  read  that  his  gracious  Majesty  the 
French  King  had  been  pleased  to  declare  Bayonne,  Mar 
seilles,  L' Orient,  and  Dunkirk  to  be  free  ports.  It  was 
explained  that  by  a  free  port  was  meant  one  at  which  all 
goods  could  be  brought  in  and  carried  out  free.  A  duty 
was,  however,  laid  upon  tobacco  at  Marseilles,  as  the  tobacco 
revenue  had  been  farmed  and  could  not  therefore  be  abol 
ished.  This  news,  it  was  thought,  would  be  jo5Tfully  received 
by  the  merchants,  and  as  Lafayette  was  known  to  have  had  a 


1784.  THE   COMMITTEE   OF  THE   STATES.  209 

principal  hand  in  the  business,  a  vote  of  thanks  was  awarded 
him. 

The  matter  of  salaries  of  the  foreign  ministers  was  next 
taken  up.  The  sum  annually  paid  them  was  eleven  thousand 
one  hundred  and  eleven  dollars.  This  was  pronounced  to  be 
excessive.  The  public  expenses  must  be  retrenched  some 
where,  and  a  good  place  to  begin  at  was  the  pay  of  the  minis 
ters.  They  were  living  in  luxury  while  their  countrymen  at 
home  were  in  rags.  Nine  thousand  dollars  it  was  determined 
was  all  they  should  receive  in  future. 

Leave  was  then  granted  Franklin  to  come  home,  and 
Thomas  Jefferson  elected  Minister  to  the  Court  of  Versailles. 
An  officer  was  dispatched  to  Canada  to  find  out  when  the  Brit 
ish  would  give  up  the  posts  on  the  frontier.  The  Treasury  was 
put  in  commission,  and  Oliver  Ellsworth,  William  Denning, 
and  Daniel  of  St.  Thomas  Jenifer  made  commissioners;  the 
Committee  of  the  States  chosen,  a  day  appointed  in  December 
for  the  hearing  of  the  delegates  of  New  York  and  Massachu 
setts  on  the  boundary  dispute,  and,  on  the  third  of  June  the 
House  rose. 

The  thirteen  members  in  whose  hands  the  management  of 
affairs  was  now  left  had  indeed  but  little  power  and  small 
responsibility.  They  could  make  no  treaties  ;  they  could  bor 
row  no  money ;  they  could  put  out  no  bills ;  could  do  nothing, 
in  short,  that  required  the  affirmative  vote  of  nine  States.  Yet 
it  was  not  long  before  they  betrayed  even  this  mild  trust,  sepa 
rated  with  angry  words,  and  betook  themselves  home.  Every 
one  felt  that  he  was  an  ill-used  man.  Some  complained  bit 
terly  at  the  hard  fate  that  kept  them  mewed  up  in  a  hot  town, 
reading  dry  papers,  and  listening  to  prosy  reports,  while  their 
fellow-delegates  were  enjoying  themselves  at  home.  Others 
pronounced  it  an  outrage  that  they  should  be  compelled  to 
hold  sessions  day  after  day  at  Annapolis.  There  were  many 
cities  in  the  North  where  the  thermometer  never  reached  such 
heights,  where  there  was  no  blinding  glare  from  the  bay,  where 
the  committee  could  have  been  much  more  comfortable,  and 
business  just  as  well  done.  The  eastern  men,  moreover,  had 
gone  into  the  measure  with  but  half  a  heart.  Four  of  them 
never  attended.  The  sittings  from  the  first  were  far  from 

VOL.    I — 15 


210          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

harmonious,  grew  more  and  more  stormy  as  the  weeks  wore 
on,  till  at  last,  one  day  in  August,  as  the  chairman  was  about 
to  put  a  motion  to  vote,  several  of  the  eastern  delegates  rose 
from  their  seats,  rushed  from  the  room,  destroyed  the  quorum, 
and  firmly  refused  to  return.  Next  day  the  gentlemen  from 
New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  and  New  Jersey  started  for 
their  homes.*  Two  months  went  by  before  Congress  met  at 
Trenton.  The  country  in  the  meanwhile  was  left  without  a 
government. 

The  same  post  that  brought  to  New  England  the  news  of 
the  adjournment  of  Congress  brought  also  a  startling  account 
of  the  harsh  and  savage  treatment  of  the  Yankee  settlers  in 
Wyoming.  Wyoming  was  the  name  once  applied  to  such 
part  of  the  hill-country  of  Pennsylvania  as  lay  to  the  north 
of  the  forty-first  degree  of  latitude.  The  tract  had  been 
extensively  settled  by  men  from  Connecticut,  and  had  till 
within  a  few  years  been  claimed  by  that  State  as  part  and 
parcel  of  her  domain.  But  the  dispute  had  been  settled  in 
favor  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  New  Englander  who  spoke  of 
his  friends  in  Wyoming  was  understood  to  refer  to  one  par 
ticular  valley  of  the  Susquehanna  river.  In  the  Delaware 
tongue  Wyoming  signifies  the  broad  flats,  and  in  truth  that 
valley  is,  of  all  the  valleys  along  the  whole  course  of  the 
river,  the  flattest  as  well  as  the  richest  and  most  beautiful. 
The  Susquehanna,  issuing  from  Otsego  lake,  receives  at  Tioga 
Point  the  waters  of  the  Chemung,  and,  entering  a  deep  ravine, 
flows  to  the  southeast.  Huge  precipices  of  naked  stone  rise 
on  either  side.  Steep  hills  and  mountains  shut  it  in  till,  as  it 
nears  the  mouth  of  the  Lackawanna,  it  suddenly  breaks  through 
its  lofty  barriers  into  the  broad  plains  of  Wyoming.  The 
heaps  of  sand  covered  with  smoothly  rounded  pebbles,  the 
rich  alluvial  soil,  the  fresh-water  shells  high  above  the  utmost 
limits  of  the  river,  the  rounded  hills,  the  endless  succession 
of  bottom-lands  and  extensive  flats,  give  color  to  the  belief 
that  the  valley  was  once  the  bed  of  a  great  fresh-water  lake. 
But,  be  this  as  it  may,  the  spot  has  from  the  earliest  times 
been  a  favorite  among  men.  Along  the  hill-tops  are  still  dis 
cernible  the  rings  of  earth,  the  mounds,  the  fortresses  made  by 


*  The  committee  adjourned  August  19,  1784. 


1784.  FLOODS  IN  THE   WYOMING  VALLEY.  211 

that  mysterious  race  whose  name  is  utterly  unknown.  The 
Delawares,  the  Shawanese,  and  in  later  times  the  Six  Na 
tions,  made  it  their  hunting-ground  till  the  white  men  drove 
them  out.  Nor  was  there  on  that  terrible  day  when  Brant 
and  his  Indians  swept  through  the  land  a  happier,  more 
prosperous  settlement  in  all  Pennsylvania.  Six  years  had 
gone  by  since  the  massacre,  and  the  valley  had  begun  to  wear 
its  old  aspect.  Settlers  had  come  in,  houses  had  been  put  up, 
farms  had  been  laid  out,  and  great  loads  of  corn  and  wheat 
went  every  autumn  to  Philadelphia.  But  this  prosperity 
was  of  short  duration.  In  1784  it  was  again  devastated, 
first  by  the  violence  of  Nature,  and  then  by  the  violence  of 
man. 

The  winter  had  been  one  of  unusual  severity.  The 
weather  had  been  bitterly  cold,  and  the  snow  lay  thick  upon 
the  ground  till  March  was  far  spent.  Then,  on  a  sudden,  a 
change  came.  The  wind  set  in  from  the  south,  rain  fell  in 
torrents,  melted  the  snow,  and  turned  every  stream  and  creek 
that  fed  the  Susquehanna  into  a  roaring  torrent.  In  a  single 
night  the  water  of  the  river  rose  many  feet,  broke  up  the  ice 
on  the  rapids,  and,  whirling  it  down  in  great  masses,  lodged 
it  against  the  frozen  surface  of  the  more  gentle  parts.  Three 
immense  ice-dams  were  thus  formed,  which  caused  such  an 
accumulation  of  water  that  the  river  overflowed  its  banks,  and 
one  great  inundation  hid  the  flat  land  from  sight.  Yet  even 
this  afforded  no  relief  to  the  waters  which  came  pouring  in 
from  the  hill-country.  Every  day  the  dams  grew  thicker  and 
higher,  and  with  the  blocks  of  ice  were  soon  mingled  frag^ 
ments  of  barns  and  houses,  rails  of  fences,  ricks  of  hay,  many 
carcasses  of  cattle,  and  innumerable  ears  of  corn.  But  at 
last  the  upper  ice-dam,  unable  longer  to  sustain  the  thrust  of 
the  water,  gave  way,  and  the  flood,  rushing  upon  the  lower- 
dams,  broke  through  them  and  swept  down  the  Susquehanna. 
Then  the  river  fell  as  rapidly  as  it  had  risen,  leaving  its  course 
marked  by  ruin.  Nowhere  over  the  area  covered  by  the 
water  was  a  house,  or  a  fence,  or  a  shed  to  be  seen.  The 
farmers  could  scarcely  recognize  their  own  fields.  "Where  a 
few  hours  before  had  been  a  rich  bottom-land  was  now  a  bed 
of  gravel.  Where  had  been  a  promising  orchard  now  stood 


212          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

a  few  bent  and  broken  saplings.*  Over  the  flats  and  along 
the  margin  of  the  current  lay  great  heaps  of  ice  wedged  in 
with  roofs  of  houses  and  trunks  of  trees.  One  such  ice-heap 
covered  the  plain  where  is  now  the  little  city  of  Wilkesbarre, 
and  so  thick  was  it  that  the  summer  had  wellnigh  gone  before 
the  last  block  disappeared.  But  to  all  these  were  added  other 
evils  still  more  serious.  The  corn  and  the  wheat,  the  potatoes 
and  the  apples,  the  fruit  of  the  harvest  just  passed,  had  been 
washed  down  the  river  by  the  flood.  Such  indeed  was  the 
scarcity  of  food  that,  had  it  not  been  for  the  immense  schools 
of  shad  which,  on  the  return  of  every  spring,  go  up  and  down 
the  river,  starvation  would  have  ensued.  As  it  was,  the  cry 
of  misery  that  went  up  from  the  valley  reached  even  to  the 
ears  of  Dickinson.  He  sent  an  urgent  message  to  the  Assem 
bly  recommending  measures  of  relief.  But  the  hatred  the 
Pennsylvanians  felt  for  the  Yankees  was  not  on  a  sudden  to 
be  turned  to  pity.  Their  sufferings,  it  was  said,  were  no  great 
er  than  their  deserts.  What  business  had  they  in  the  valley  ? 
Many  devout  persons  declared  they  saw  in  the  desolation  of 
Wyoming  a  manifestation  of  divine  anger,  a  signal  instance 
of  the  way  in  which  God  turns  into  foolishness  the  councils 
of  the  wise.  No  spot  had  once  been  more  prosperous.  No 
spot  was  now  so  forlorn. 

The  prayers  of  the  settlers  were  therefore  disregarded,  and 
in  place  of  bread  the  Assembly  sent  them  soldiers.  The  duty 
of  the  militia,  it  was  given  out,  was  to  restore  order  in  the 
valley,  to  put  down  the  contentions  of  the  Yankees  and  the 
Pennymites,  as  the  Pennsylvania  settlers  were  nicknamed, 
and  to  protect  each  party  in  the  possession  of  its  rights.  But 
the  true  purpose  of  the  army  sent  thither  was  to  drive  out 
the  Connecticut  claimants  in  the  interest  of  a  company  of 
land-speculators.  The  military  were  placed  in  command  of  Mr. 
Justice  Patterson,  a  man  whose  narrow  mind  well  fitted  him 
for  the  work  in  hand.  So  soon  as  the  roads  became  passable 
he  led  them  to  Wyoming,  and  at  once  began  operations. 
Fences  were  torn  down  from  the  grain-fields  and  set  up  across 

*  See  An  Account  of  the  Effects  of  the  General  Thaw  in  March,  1784,  upon 
the  River  Susquehanna  and  the  Adjacent  Country.  Columbian  Magazine,  No- 
vember,  1786,  pp.  123,  124. 


1784.  SUFFERING  OF  THE   SETTLERS.  213 

the  roads  and  highways.  The  farmers  were  forbidden  to  hunt 
in  the  woods,  to  fish  in  the  river,  to  draw  water  from  their 
wells,  or  to  cut  timber  to  make  a  shelter  for  those  rendered 
houseless  by  the  flood.*  Meanwhile  the  soldiers  lived  at  free 
quarters,  wandered  over  the  fields  shooting  poultry,  insulting 
the  women,  and  prodding  the  men  with  their  bayonets.  Such 
acts  of  violence  were  stoutly  resisted.  This  was  precisely 
what  Patterson  wished,  and  quite  in  accordance  with  his 
plans.  He  raised  the  cry  that  the  soldiers  were  being  with 
stood,  and,  to  prepare  the  way  for  what  was  to  follow,  he 
wrote  to  the  President  of  the  Council  a  most  carefully  worded 
letter.  "  I  therefore  humbly  hope,"  said  he,  "  that  if  any  dan 
gerous  or  seditious  commotion  should  arise  in  this  county,  so 
remote  from  the  seat  of  government,  that  it  may  not  be  con 
strued  into  a  want  of  zeal  or  love  for  the  Commonwealth  if 
we  should,  through  dire  necessity,  be  obliged  to  do  some 
things  not  strictly  consonant  to  the  letter  of  the  law." 

No  sooner  had  he  dispatched  this  note  than  the  soldiers 
were  turned  loose,  and,  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  drove 
out  one  hundred  and  fifty  families  and  set  fire  to  their  homes. 
Desolate  and  oppressed,  they  implored  permission  to  go  up 
or  down  the  river  in  boats  ;  they  urged  the  helplessness  of  the 
women  and  the  children,  the  long  journey  which  separated 
them  from  their  friends,  and  the  lack  of  food.  But  this 
request  Patterson  ungraciously  refused,  and  curtly  ordered 
them  to  take  the  Lackawaxen  road  as  the  most  direct  to  Con 
necticut.  Again  they  expostulated.  The  Lackawaxen  road 
had,  they  said,  fallen  into  disuse  during  the  war,  and  was  now 
all  but  impassable.  Bushes  had  grown  up  on  it ;  there  were 
no  bridges  over  the  streams  it  crossed,  and  for  more  than 
sixty  miles  the  road  lay  through  a  wilderness  where  not  a 
house  was  to  be  seen.  But  Patterson  was  firm  in  his  com 
mands,  and  more  than  five  hundred  men,  women,  and  chil 
dren  were  driven  hastily  toward  the  Delaware.  Not  a  few 
fell  down  by  the  way  and  were  buried  under  logs  and  fallen 
trees,  whence  the  wolves  dug  up  and  ate  them.  Others  died 
from  exposure  and  fatigue  on  reaching  the  settlements. 

*  Boston  Gazettes,  June  7  and  October  25,  1784,  contain  letters  giving  accounts 
of  these  proceedings. 


214          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

When  the  news  of  Patterson's  action  reached  Philadelphia 
some  show  of  indignation  was  made.  Patterson  and  his  troops 
were  instantly  dismissed.  The  sheriff  of  Northumberland 
was  sent  down  to  bring  back  the  settlers,  and,  under  the  most 
solemn  assurance  from  him  of  protection,  many  came  back. 
But  Patterson  had,  upon  his  own  authority,  re-enlisted  the 
discharged  soldiers,  fortified  a  cave  on  the  cliffs  of  the  moun 
tain,  which  he  named  Fort  Lillope,  and  bade  the  sheriff  do 
his  worst.  The  worst  the  sheriff  could  do  was  to  carry  back 
the  news  of  his  defeat  to  those  who  sent  him.  Meanwhile 
the  valley  was  a  scene  of  violence  and  confusion.  The  men 
who  had  returned  were  bent  upon  gathering  the  ripening 
crops.  Patterson  and  his  men  were  equally  bent  upon  de 
stroying  the  crops.  Armed  bands  were  constantly  passing  up 
and  down  the  river,  were  constantly  meeting,  and,  whenever 
such  meetings  took  place,  shots  were  sure  to  be  exchanged. 
One  such  encounter  happened  late  in  July.  A  party  of  the 
Connecticut  settlers  went  down  from  Kingston  to  Shawnee  to 
protect  the  crops,  but  fell  in  by  the  way  with  a  party  of  Penn- 
sylvanians  who  instantly  opened  fire  and  killed  two  of  their 
number.  Immediately  the  whole  Connecticut  element  was 
aflame.  Franklin,  a  New  England  man  well  known  in  Wyo 
ming,  collected  a  number  of  men,  started  from  Kingston,  swept 
down  the  west  side  of  the  river,  dispossessed  all  the  Pennsyl- 
vanians,  and  drove  them  to  Fort  Dickinson,  where  Patterson 
and  his  men  were  cooped  up.  A  summons  to  surrender  was 
received  with  jeers.  The  siege  then  began  in  earnest.  But 
the  garrison  made  a  sortie  and  burned  the  houses  occupied  by 
the  besiegers.  And  now  four  hundred  militia  appeared  in  the 
valley.  They  were  commanded  by  General  Armstrong,  a  man 
of  some  parts  and  courage,  but  brutal  and  utterly  destitute  of 
any  sense  of  truth  and  honor.  lie  had  served  with  distinc 
tion  in  the  war,  had  risen  to  be  a  general  in  the  Continental 
army,  and  is  still  remembered  as  the  father  of  the  author  of 
the  Newburg  Addresses.  No  sooner  had  he  reached  Wy 
oming  than  he  put  forth  a  proclamation.  He  came,  he  said, 
in  the  name  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania,  to  sup 
press  violence,  to  administer  impartial  justice,  to  insure  pro 
tection,  and  to  summon  the  contending  parties  to  lay  down 


1784.  THE  TREACHERY   OF  ARMSTRONG.  215 

their  arms.  He  first  began  to  treat  with  the  Connecticut 
party.  But  some  natural  doubts  were  aroused  touching  his 
good  faith,  and  he  was  plainly  told  so.  Then  he  began  to 
curse  and  to  swear,  and  pledged  what  he  was  pleased  to  call 
his  honor  as  a  gentleman  and  his  faith  as  a  soldier,  that  Pat 
terson's  men  should  also  be  disarmed.  On  this  double  assur 
ance  the  New  Engianders  surrendered.  They  were  ordered 
to  draw  up  in  line ;  to  ground  arms,  to  right-about,  to  march 
ten  steps,  to  halt,  and  again  right-about.  Armstrong  then 
commanded  his  men  to  pick  up  the  muskets.  This  was 
promptly  done,  and  the  soldier  who  had  pledged  his  honor 
and  his  faith  announced  to  the  little  crowd  of  disarmed  men 
that  they  were  his  prisoners.  Thirty  of  them  were  sent  in 
irons  to  East  on.  Forty-six  more  were  marched  under  a  strong 
guard  to  the  jail  at  Northumberland,  while  Armstrong,  de 
lighted  with  his  stroke  of  cunning,  hastened  back  to  Phila 
delphia. 

But  there  was  in  that  city  a  body  of  men  who  looked  with 
no  favor  on  Armstrong  and  his  acts.  The  Council  of  Censors 
had  assembled.  The  Censors  met  every  seventh  year.  It  was 
their  duty  to  inquire  whether  the  Constitution  had  been  kept 
inviolate ;  whether  the  taxes  had  been  justly  levied ;  whether 
the  public  money  had  been  wisely  expended  ;  whether  the 
laws  had  been  duly  carried  out.  And  they  were  of  the  opin 
ion  that  in  the  deeds  of  Patterson  and  Armstrong  the  laws 
had  not  been  duly  carried  out.  The  whole  affair  w^as  there 
fore  soon  before  them,  and  a  message  sent  to  the  Assembly 
demanding  papers  and  documents.  To  this  an  ungracious 
reply  was  made,  which  was,  in  fact,  a  refusal.  The  Censors 
thereupon  gave  it  as  their  opinion  that  the  treatment  of  the 
settlers  in  Wyoming  was  a  high-handed  outrage.  The  As 
sembly  retaliated  by  making  Armstrong  Adjutant  of  the  State, 
and  authorizing  him  to  raise  more  troops  and  complete  the 
expulsion  of  the  settlers.  But  from  this  they  soon  went  back. 

To  oppress  the  settlers  in  Wyoming  was  one  thing.  To 
defy  the  Council  of  Censors  was  quite  another  thing.  So 
long  as  the  Assembly  sent  its  soldiers  to  drive  the  hated 
Yankees  from  a  section  of  the  State  far  away  from  the  seat 
of  government,  nobody  cared.  The  Pennsylvanians  were  not 


216          THE   WEAKNESS  OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

harassed,  their  fences  were  not  pulled  down,  their  fields  were 
not  laid  waste,  their  wives  were  not  abused,  their  houses  were 
not  burned,  nor  were  they  sent  across  the  wilderness  to  die  of 
hunger  by  the  way.  But  when  the  Censors  were  withstood — 
the  Censors  who  were  the  bulwark  against  the  tyranny  of  offi 
cials  and  the  unjust  acts  of  law-makers  —  the  people  were 
greatly  alarmed.  Then  on  a  sudden  much  sympathy  was  felt 
for  the  expelled  settlers.  The  action  of  the  Assembly  was 
severely  criticised.  Armstrong  and  Patterson  were  pro 
nounced  brutes,  and  were,  under  the  pressure  of  popular 
indignation,  speedily  recalled.  At  the  same  time  the  Legis 
lature  commanded  that  the  Connecticut  claimants  should  be 
restored  to  the  full  possession  of  their  property.* 

When  this  news  reached  New  England,  the  angry  feelings 
awakened  by  the  ill-treatment  of  the  Wyoming  settlers  rapidly 
subsided,  and  the  attention  of  the  multitude  was  drawn  off  to 
the  progress  of  an  illustrious  visitor.  Indeed,  the  journey 
which  Lafayette  was  then  making  through  the  States  re 
sembled  a  royal  progress  much  more  than  the  tour  of  a  noble 
foreigner.  Everywhere  he  was  heartily  welcomed  and  sump 
tuously  entertained.  He  landed  on  the  fourth  of  August, 
went  directly  to  Mount  Vernon,  hastened  thence  to  New 
York,  and,  on  the  fifteenth  of  September,  went  up  the  Hud 
son  in  a  barge  to  Albany.  There  he  was  invited  by  the  Indian 
commissioners  to  attend  the  conference  at  Fort  Schuyler. 
He  accepted,  and,  to  the  surprise  of  many,  addressed  the  as 
sembled  chiefs  of  the  Oneidas  in  a  speech  that  would  not  have 
misbecome  the  commissioners. f  From  Fort  Schuyler  he  has 
tened  across  country  to  Boston,  entered  that  city  on  the  even- 

*  My  authorities  for  the  account  of  the  disorders  in  Wyoming  are :  Miner's 
History  of  Wyoming,  Chapman's  History  of  Wyoming,  Peck's  History  of  Wyo 
ming,  Stone's  Poetry  and  History  of  Wyoming,  Hollister's  History  of  Lackawanna 
Valley,  and  Pearce's  Annals  of  Luzerne  County.  See,  also,  Pennsylvania  Packet, 
May  27,  1784,  and  Boston  Gazette  for  June  and  October,  1784. 

f  As  Lafayette  was  not  one  of  the  commissioners,  many  wondered  that  he 
should  have  the  impudence  to  address  the  Indians  on  a  matter  it  was  not  his 
business  to  meddle  with.  But  Madison,  who  accompanied  the  Marquis  on  his 
ti'ip,  and  heard  the  speech,  gives  a  long  explanation  of  Lafayette's  conduct  in  a 
letter  to  Jefferson.  He  says,  moreover,  that  the  speech  was  a  good  one,  that  he 
entirely  eclipsed  the  commissioners,  and  that  one  of  them  was  greatly  annoyed 
thereby.  Madison  to  Jefferson,  October  17,  1784. 


1784.  TOUR   OF  LAFAYETTE.  217 

ing  of  the  fifteenth  of  October,  and  put  up  at  the  Bunch  of 
Grapes.* 

The  presence  of  the  distinguished  Frenchman  created  no 
little  excitement  in  the  city,  and  the  townsmen  determined  to 
give  him  such  a  reception  as  he  should  not  soon  forget.  The 
seventeenth  of  October,  the  seventh  anniversary  of  a  great 
event,  was  close  at  hand ;  but  the  nineteenth,  the  third  anni 
versary  of  a  day  yet  more  memorable  in  the  history  of  our 
country,  was  chosen  for  the  reception.  On  that  day  three 
hundred  of  the  most  respectable  of  the  citizens  assembled  in 
Faneuil  Hall,  which  had  for  two  days  past  been  given  over 
to  the  carpenters  and  decorators  to  be  made  suitable  for  so 
splendid  an  occasion.  Thirteen  arches,  adorned  with  flowers 
and  made  gay  with  bunting,  had  been  put  up.  The  arches 
grew  smaller  from  the  centre  toward  the  ends  of  the  room, 
and  in  the  one  immediately  over  the  Marquis's  head  was  a 
fleur-de-lis.  Music  was  played  during  the  dinner,  and,  when 
the  cloth  had  been  removed,  thirteen  toasts  were  proposed. 
As  each  toast  was  drunk  off,  thirteen  cannon  were  discharged 
in  the  market-place,  and  three  rounds  of  claps  given,  a  new 
fashion  of  applause  but  lately  come  in.  But  no  toast  brought 
out  such  vociferous  shouts  as  the  toast  of  General  Washington. 
No  sooner  had  the  name  of  that  well-beloved  general  been  an 
nounced  than  a  curtain,  which  hung  behind  the  Marquis,  was 
rent  asunder,  and  displayed  the  picture  of  Washington, 
crowned  with  flowers  and  laurels,  and  supported  by  the  en 
signs  of  America  and  France.  The  Marquis  quickly  arose 
from  his  seat,  his  face  beaming  with  mingled  pleasure  and 
surprise,  began  to  applaud,  and  was  instantly  joined  by  the 
assembled  company,  f 

From  Boston  he  went  to  Marblehead.  There  a  great  gath 
ering  of  people  came  out  to  meet  him.  But  as  the  multitude 
were  pressing  and  cheering  round  him,  he  was  much  struck  by 
the  fact  that  the  women  far  outnumbered  the  men.  He  in 
quired  the  cause,  and  was  told  that  the  women  he  saw  were 

*  See  Letters  of  Madison  to  Jefferson,  September  7,  1784;  September  15, 
1784;  October  11,  1784. 

f  New  Jersey  Gazette,  November  8,  178.4.  See,  also,  Boston  Gazette,  Boston 
Mercury,  and  other  papers. 


218          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  n. 

the  widows  of  men  slain  in  the  war,  and  were  come  out  to 
welcome  him  in  their  husbands'  stead.  Nor  was  this  by  any 
means  a  romantic  tale.  For  the  official  census  of  the  Govern 
ment  revealed  the  fact  that  more  than  one  half  of  the  male  in 
habitants  of  Marblehead  had  joined  the  Continental  army  and 
never  returned. 

From  Marblehead  Lafayette  went  on  to  Salem.  But  while 
he  was  yet  far  off  he  was  met  by  the  citizens  in  carriages  and 
on  horseback,  and  escorted  to  his  lodgings.  As  he  entered 
the  town  all  the  church-bells  rang  out,  and  the  throng  in  the 
street  set  up  a  joyous  shout.  At  his  lodgings  he  was  waited 
upon  by  a  number  of  Continental  officers,  and  by  a  deputation 
of  gentlemen,  who  presented  him  with  an  address.  lie  then 
went,  preceded  by  the  officers,  to  the  Concert  Hall,  where  a 
sumptuous  repast  was  spread.* 

His  eastern  tour  over,  the  Marquis  sailed  from  Boston  in 
the  Nymphe,  and  went  by  water  to  Annapolis.  From  An 
napolis  he  returned  to  Mount  Yernon,  and  a  second  time  vis 
ited  his  chief.  This  concluded,  he  rode  on  to  Philadelphia, 
which  he  reached  on  the  ninth  of  December.  Ten  miles  be 
yond  the  city  limits  the  officers  of  the  late  army  and  the  mi 
litia  were  drawn  up  to  receive  him  and  escort  him  to  the 
City  Tavern.  The  streets,  the  windows,  the  house-tops,  were 
crowded  with  gazers,  who  saluted  him  with  cheers  as  he  passed 
along.  The  bells  were  rung  from  the  moment  of  his  entrance 
into  the  city  till  ten  at  night.  Through  all  the  evening  the 
streets  were  ablaze  with  bonfires,  f  Two  days  later  he  reached 
Trenton,  and  was  complimented  by  a  committee  of  Congress. 
The  same  day  he  received  the  address  of  New  Jersey.  On 
Christmas  day  he  quitted  New  York  for  France. 

While  half  the  towns  in  the  country  were  thus  vying  with 
each  other  in  doing  honor  to  the  illustrious  foreigner,  it  was 
noticed,  in  no  kindly  spirit,  that  New  York  suffered  him  to 
depart  with  no  other  marks  of  distinction  than  a  few  salvos 
of  cannon  and  an  invitation  to  dine  with  the  Mayor.  ^  The 
citizens  were  in  no  frame  of  mind  to  entertain  even  so  dis 
tinguished  a  guest  as  Lafayette.  They  had,  through  the  whole 


*  New  York  Packet.  f  Pennsylvania  Packet. 

\  Xe\v  Jersey  Gazette. 


1784.  PUBLIC   MEETING  AT   VANDE WATER'S.  219 

year,  been  engaged  in  what  they  believed  to  be  a  losing  fight 
with  the  Tories,  and  were  much  exercised  over  the  prospect  of 
the  coining  spring  election.  Many  petitions,  signed  by  hands 
well  known  at  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  on  'Change,  and  at 
the  Bank,  urging  sharp  laws  against  the  Tories,  had  been 
suffered  by  the  Legislature  to  pass  unnoticed.  Meanwhile,  the 
Tories  had  been  most  untiring  in  their  plots,  and  had  obtained 
a  judgment  in  the  Mayor's  Court  which  seemed  to  strike  at 
the  very  root  of  government.  The  case  of  Rutgers  against 
Waddington  had  come  up  for  trial  early  in  the  summer,  and, 
to  the  horror  of  the  Whigs,  decision  had  been  rendered  for 
Waddington.  The  exultation  of  the  Tories  was  unbounded  ; 
the  mortification  and  rage  of  the  Whigs  was  great.  This,  it 
was  said,  was  too  much !  The  Mayor's  Court  to  set  aside  a 
law  of  the  Legislature  and  give  a  decision  in  direct  opposition 
to  its  letter  and  spirit !  This  was  the  end  of  all  liberty. 
Henceforth,  when  any  law  was  enacted  offensive  to  the  Tories, 
they  had  but  to  trump  up  some  cause  of  action  under  it,  take 
it  to  the  Mayor's  Court,  and  have  the  law  set  aside.  There 
was,  however,  one  remedy  left  to  a  free  people  which,  happily, 
it  was  not  in  the  power  of  the  Mayor's  Court  to  take  away  : 
the  right  to  meet,  consult,  and  deliberate  on  the  best  means  of 
relief  from  the  dangers  that  threatened  them.  To  this  they 
had  recourse.  Early  in  the  fall  a  meeting  was  called  at  Van- 
dewater's-in-the-fields.  The  attendance  was  great,  for  many 
cases  yet  remained  for  trial  that  were  likely  to  be  affected  by 
the  late  decision  of  the  Mayor.  To  this  meeting  the  aldermen 
were  summoned.  Some  few  came,  were  sharply  questioned, 
and  gave  so  ill  an  account  of  themselves  in  the  matter  that 
many  present  were  heard  to  mutter  that  they  believed  the  al 
dermen  were  at  heart  Tories.  The  meeting  then  selected  a 
committee  to  draw  up  an  address  to  the  tax-payers,  and  ad 
journed.  This  address  came  forth  early  in  November.  It 
was,  the  committee  said,  the  happiness  of  the  people  of  a  free 
land  that,  on  every  occasion  when  they  conceived  their  rights 
to  be  in  danger,  they  could  meet,  and  consult  and  deliberate 
on  the  mode  of  relief.  In  the  exercise  of  this  privilege  a 
number  of  free  citizens  had  assembled  and  charged  them  to  ad 
dress  the  tax-payers  on -the  late  decision  of  the  Mayor's  Court 


220          THE   WEAKNESS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  11. 

on  the  law  commonly  called  the  Trespass  Act.  That  any 
court  should  have  power  to  set  aside  acts  of  the  Legislature 
was,  they  believed,  absurd.  They  were  addressing  an  enlight 
ened  people,  a  people  awake  to  everything  that  might  affect 
their  dearly  earned  freedom,  who  well  knew  that  the  conse 
quences  which  would  flow  from  the  establishment  of  such  a 
power  would  be  most  pernicious,  and  would  render  abortive 
the  great  privilege  of  making  their  own  laws  by  their  repre 
sentatives.  ,  They  fully  believed  that  the  principle  of  the  de 
cision  in  the  case  of  Rutgers  against  Waddington  was  most 
dangerous  to  the  Government,  and  that  a  perseverance  in  that 
principle  would  leave  to  the  Legislature  nothing  but  a  name, 
and  make  the  session  nothing  but  an  expense."* 

While  this  address  and  the  indignant  feelings  that  had 
called  it  forth  were  yet  fresh,  the  citizens  were  not  a  little 
pleased  to  learn  that  Congress  had  fixed  on  their  city  as  a  place 
of  permanent  residence  till  a  Federal  town  should  be  built. 

*  The  address  was  printed  in  full  in  the  New  York  Packet  of  November  4, 
1784. 


1784.  STATE   OF  FRANCE.  221 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE. 

IN  the  Congress  which  soon  assembled  in  the  City  Hall  at 
New  York  one  familiar  face  wTas  wanting.  Jefferson  had 
been  sent  abroad.  Early  in  the  previous  May,  Congress  had 
judged  it  wise  to  appoint  three  commissioners  to  negotiate 
treaties  of  commerce  with  foreign  powers.  One  of  the  three 
was  John  Adams,  who  at  that  time  represented  the  country 
at  the  Hague.  A  second  was  Franklin,  who  had  for  more 
than  six  years  been  minister  to  the  Court  of  France,  and  in 
casting  about  for  a  third  the  lot  fell  on  Jefferson.  No  sooner 
had  the  House  adjourned  than  he  set  forth,  travelled  through 
New  Jersey,  stopped  at  New  York,  went  thence  to  Boston, 
visited  New  Hampshire,  made  himself  familiar  with  the  com 
merce  of  the  various  States,  and  early  in  July  sailed  in  the 
packet  Ceres  to  Cowes.  He  then  went  on  to  Paris,  which  he 
reached  on  the  sixth  of  August,  and  there  found  himself  in 
the  midst  of  a  society  the  most  remarkable  the  world  has  ever 
seen.  Our  estimate  of  that  society  is  apt  to  be  a  most  erroneous 
one.  We  are  prone  to  think  only  of  its  brilliancy,  and  to  for 
get  that  the  French  King,  who  stood  by  us  in  the  dark  hour, 
who  recognized  our  independence,  who  loaned  us  money,  and 
sent  us  ships  and  troops,  ruled  over  a  people  much  poorer  and 
much  more  unhappy  than  our  own.  The  Court  and  the  nobil 
ity  were  indeed  still  great  and  splendid.  The  arts  and  manu 
factures  had  never  before  been  so  liberally  patronized.  Never 
had  the  sciences  been  so  assiduously  cultivated.  Lavoisier  had 
just  replaced  the  obscure  language  of  alchemy  with  a  simple 
and  luminous  terminology.  Lagrange  had  made  geometry 
attractive  even  to  the  frivolous,  and  had  put  forth  that  fine 


222      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TEADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  m. 

work  on  rational  mechanics  which  still  holds  its  place  in  the 
schools,  and  is  still  looked  upon  as  an  authority.  'No  other 
country  could  boast  of  an  astronomer  so  profound  as  Bailli  or 
Laplace ;  of  a  naturalist  as  acute  as  Buff  on ;  of  a  physicist  so 
daring  as  Pilatre  de  Rozier.  Jouffroi  had  steamed  down  the 
Saone  in  his  little  boat ;  Lesage  had  been  close  upon  the  dis 
covery  of  the  telegraph.  Experimental  physics  was  indeed 
quite  the  mode,  and  all  classes  were  hurried  along  by  the  pre 
vailing  taste.  The  Due  d' Orleans  forgot  his  amours  and  his 
stud,  his  fashions  and  his  schemes  of  reform,  to  dabble  in  it. 
The  Marquis  d'Arlandes  stole  a  few  hours  from  Court  to  pur 
sue  a  series  of  experiments  which  cost  him  his  life.  The 
brothers  Montgolfier,  whose  business  it  was  to  make  paper, 
had  found  time  in  the  press  of  business  to  devote  to  physics, 
had  thought  much  on  the  ascent  of  vapors  and  the  formation 
of  clouds,  and  soon  delighted  the  little  town  of  Annonay  with 
the  spectacle  of  the  first  balloon.  But  a  party  of  amateurs  in 
physics  at  Paris,  not  to  be  outdone  by  Montgolfier,  constructed 
an  oil-silk  bag,  filled  it  with  inflammable  air  of  one  tenth  the 
weight  of  atmospheric  air,  and,  in  the  midst  of  a  great 
storm,  launched  it  from  the  Champ  de  Mars.  It  speedily  rose 
above  the  clouds,  and  came  down  four  miles  beyond  the  city. 
The  marvellous  art,  it  was  said,  of  making  bodies  traverse 
through  space  was  now  discovered.  Dreams  of  wings  with 
which  men  were  to  fly  from  Calais  to  Dover  gave  way  to 
dreams  of  balloons  in  which  men  were  to  navigate  the  globe. 
The  golden  age  was  believed  to  be  close  at  hand.  Indeed, 
men  of  sense  and  judgment  forgot  themselves,  and  made  pre 
dictions  which  neither  they  nor  those  who  heard  them  under 
stood.  Physical  ills  would  rapidly  disappear.  There  would 
be  no  more  war,  no  more  injustice,  no  more  oppression  of  the 
weak  by  the  strong.  Man,  purified  and  reformed,  would  go 
forth,  like  a  beneficent  god,  in  his  balloon,  to  carry  to  the 
savages  of  the  South  Sea  the  laws  of  science  and  good  order.* 

*  These  absurd  predictions  seemed  about  this  time  to  be  well  grounded,  as 
Blanchard  had  just  crossed  the  Channel  in  a  balloon,  and  landed  on  the  heights 
of  Calais.  The  news  of  this  journey  was  accompanied  by  a  story  which  was  not 
a  little  flattering  to  French  vanity.  Blanchard  was  accompanied  by  an  English 
man  named  Jefferies.  Each  had,  it  was  said,  at  the  start  hung  out  the  flag  of  his 
nation.  But  as  the  balloon  drifted  on  the  aeronauts  were  compelled  to  throw 


1785.  AMERICAN  MINISTERS   ABROAD.  223 

Meanwhile,  the  Treasury  was  empty  and  the  people  starv 
ing.  The  earth  refused  her  increase,  and  the  farmers,  unable 
longer  to  live  by  the  products  of  their  lands,  had  abandoned 
them.  In  many  hamlets  the  population  had,  in  the  course  of 
a  few  years,  fallen  from  fifteen  hundred  to  six  hundred. 
"Whole  provinces  were  destitute  of  cattle.  Women  did  the 
work  of  oxen,  dragged  the  ploughs,  hauled  the  carts,  and 
brought  home  the  scanty  harvests  on  their  backs.  Bread  was 
no  longer  made  of  wheat,  but  of  roots  and  pounded  herbs.  To 
this  miserable  poverty  was  added  a  gross  licentiousness,  which 
pervaded  all  ranks.  Virgin  purity  and  conjugal  fidelity  be 
came  jests.  Marriages  ceased  to  be  made,  and,  as  one  of  the 
bread  memorials  plainly  set  forth,  half  the  children  born 
were  the  offspring  of  debauchery.  In  truth,  the  French  soci 
ety  of  that  day  bore  no  small  likeness  to  the  foul  and  mon 
strous  portress  which  Milton  placed  at  the  gate  of  hell.  Half 
was  divinity ;  half  was  snake.  All  was  majestic  and  beautiful 
above ;  all  was  loathsome  and  grovelling  below. 

On  this  society  Jefferson  looked  with  profound  disgust. 
He  was,  he  wrote,  just  savage  enough  to  prefer  the  woods,  the 
fields,  and  the  independence  of  Monticello  to  the  splendors  of 
Paris.*  For  there  the  fate  of  humanity  was  most  deplorable. 
The  truth  of  Voltaire's  saying,  that  in  France  every  man  must 
be  either  the  hammer  or  the  anvil,  was  constantly  before  him. 
It  was  a  true  picture  of  that  strange  land  to  which,  we  are 
told,  we  shall  pass  in  the  hereafter,  and  where  we  shall  see 
God  and  his  angels  in  splendor,  and  crowds  of  the  damned 
trampled  under  their  feet.f 

While  thus  occupied  in  observing  the  condition  of  the  men 
he  had  so  lately  come  among,  Adams  and  Franklin  joined  him 


over  first  the  ballast  and  then  their  clothing,  and,  as  the  balloon  still  continued  to 
descend,  the  Englishman  in  despair  threw  away  his  flag,  but  Blanchard  retained 
his,  which  alone  floated  over  England.  The  excitement  awakened  by  these  experi 
ments  was  not  confined  to  France.  It  spread  rapidly  to  England  'and  America. 
Great  numbers  of  balloons  were  constructed,  and  many  ascents  made.  See  Penn 
sylvania  Packet,  June  29  and  July  20,  1784.  New  York  Packet.  See,  also,  a  let 
ter  from  Washington  to  Duportail,  April  14,  1784,  and  a  poem  entitled  The 
Balloon,  in  the  Columbian  Magazine,  November,  1786,  p.  148. 

*  Jefferson  to  Mr.  Bellini,  September  30,  1785. 

f  Jefferson  to  Mrs.  Trist,  August  18,  1785. 


224      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  m. 

at  Paris.  The  duty  performed  by  the  two  ministers  with 
whom  he  was  associated  was,  to  say  the  least,  a  thankless  and 
unenviable  one.  The  time  of  the  gentlemen  who  now  represent 
the  Republic  at  the  Courts  of  Europe  is  largely  taken  up  with 
the  performance  of  duties  of  a  social  and  agreeable  nature. 
They  attend  levees,  they  go  to  state  balls,  they  eat  state  din 
ners,  and,  at  regular  intervals,  send  home  dispatches  to  the  Sec 
retary  of  State.  Their  salary  is  fair.  Their  burden  is  light,  for 
rarely  are  they  called  on  to  perform  a  more  arduous  task 
than  to  adjust  disputes,  to  look  after  the  interests  of  their 
countrymen  when  in  trouble,  and  dispatch  home  each  week  a 
carefully  written  account  of  the  state  of  politics  at  the  Court 
to  which  they  have  been  sent.  They  represent  a  great,  opu 
lent,  and  prosperous  country,  holding  the  first  rank  among 
nations.  They  are  at  no  pains  to  explain  the  form  of  govern 
ment.  They  are  never  under  the  necessity  of  setting  forth 
the  advantages  likely  to  come  from  a  treaty  of  commerce. 
They  are  never  called  upon  to  borrow  money,  to  seek  recogni 
tion  for  their  country,  to  explain  that  the  resolutions  of  a  few 
town-meetings  are  not  the  law  of  the  land,  that  a  grumbling 
letter  to  a  newspaper  does  not  convey  the  sense  of  the  com 
munity,  that  Americans  are  white,  and  do  not  adorn  them 
selves  after  the  fashion  of  savages.  Yet  it  was  precisely  such 
things  as  these  that  American  ministers  to  foreign  courts  were, 
at  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  compelled  to  do  over  and  over 
again.  Of  the  country  and  the  three  millions  of  men  Adams 
and  Franklin  were  proud  to  represent,  far  less  was  then  known 
than  is  now  to  be  learned  from  an  encyclopaedia  regarding  the 
Sandwich  Isles  or  the  inhabitants  of  Oceanica,  Whether  Bos 
ton  was  in  Massachusetts  or  Massachusetts  in  Boston,  whether 
New  Hampshire  was  a  city  or  a  State,  whether  the  Ohio  ran 
into  the  Mississippi  or  the  Mississippi  into  the  Ohio,  were 
matters  concerning  which  nine  tenths  of  Englishmen  and 
Europeans  knew  absolutely  nothing.  Nor  were  the  climate, 
the  products  of  the  soil,  or  the  character  of  the  people  any 
better  understood.  When  Benjamin  West  went  out  as  a 
young  artist  to  study  in  the  galleries  of  Rome  he  was  as 
much  an  object  of  curiosity  as  a  polar  bear  or  an  Esquimau. 
The  Italians  came  in  crowds  to  see  what  impression  would  be 


1785.  AMEEIOA  REPRESENTED  BY  THE  ENGLISH  PRESS.   225 

produced  by  the  marvellous  productions  of  Raphael,  of  Angelo, 
and  of  Titian  on  the  young  savage  from  America,  and  went 
away  expressing  surprise  that  his  face  was  whiter  than  their 
own,  and  that  his  clothes  were  not  adorned  with  bits  of  glass 
and  pieces  of  shell.*  The  American  Revolution  was  almost 
over  before  Parmentier  succeeded  in  convincing  the  starving 
peasants  of  France  that  the  American  potato  was  fit  for 
human  beings  to  eat,  and  astonished  the  men  of  Sablon  and 
Grenelle  with  the  sight  of  great  fields  of  growing  maize. 
Campbell,  in  that  fine  poem  in  which  he  describes  the  loveli 
ness  of  the  Valley  of  Wyoming,  makes  Gertrude  and  her 
lover  to  wander  over  broad  savannas,  and  watch  the  red  fla 
mingo  reflected  like  a  meteor  in  the  lake.f 

Nor  is  it  in  the  least  surprising  that  this  should  have  been 
so.  In  colonial  times  no  one  in  Europe  troubled  himself 
about  what  took  place  in  a  little  cluster  of  towns  and  hamlets 
three  thousand  miles  away.  Few  Americans  ever  came  to 
the  continent.  Scarcely  any  traveller  from  the  continent  ever 
found  his  way  to  America.  When  the  war  opened,  when 
France  recognized  the  independence  of  the  States,  when  the 
war  closed  and  that  independence  was  secured,  European 
interest  in  America  rapidly  increased.  But  the  only  sources 
whence  information  could  be  obtained  were  English  newspa 
pers  or  Englishmen,  and  both  the  newspapers  and  the  men 
were  fully  bent  on  presenting  the  United  States  in  the  worst 
possible  light.  While  five  hundred  ships  were  engaged  in 
bringing  English  tammies,  durants,  Irish  linens  and  brocades  to 

*  When  Benjamin  West  was  introduced  to  Cardinal  Albani,  who  was  quite 
blind,  the  Cardinal  asked,  "  Is  he  black  or  white  ?  "  On  being  told  that  West  was 
very  fair,  he  exclaimed,  "  What,  as  fair  as  I  am  ?  "  Life  and  Labors  of  Benja 
min  West,  Esq.,  by  John  Gait,  London,  1806,  p.  103.  For  the  curiosity  of  the 
Italians  respecting  him,  and  his  behavior  before  the  masterpieces  of  painting 
and  sculpture,  see  pp.  104-107. 

f  This  is  by  no  means  peculiar  to  the  time.  Thackeray,  who,  had  he  stopped 
to  think,  should  have  known  better,  has  the  Virginians  making  maple-sugar  in 
the  fall  of  the  year.  For  the  English  ideas  of  the  use  of  Indian  corn  in  the 
United  States  at  the  present  day,  and  for  some  remarkable  definitions  of  "  corn 
cob,"  "  mush,"  "  samp,"  "  hog  and  hominy,"  see  Food,  by  A.  II.  Church,  M.  A. 
Oxon.,  etc.,  ed.  1877,  p.  78  ;  Foods,  by  Edward  Smith  (International  Scientific 
Series),  p.  159,  and  The  Complete  Works  of  Charles  F.  Browne  (Artemus  Ward), 
English  edition,  p.  257,  note. 
VOL.  i. — 16 


226      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP,  in, 

the  United  States,  and  taking  home  cargoes  of  rice,  tobacco, 
and  lumber,  Frenchmen  and  Dutchmen  were  assured  that  the 
commerce  of  the  United  States  was  scarcely  worth  the  wind  it 
took  to  waft  a  ship  there.  The  stately  pines  of  Maine,  which 
before  the  war  had  furnished  masts  to  half  the  ships  in  the 
Royal  Navy,  were  suddenly  found  to  be  quite  rotten.  Every 
Gazette  that  came  out  had  some  new  evidence  of  American 
atrocity.  The  readers  were  assured  that  across  the  water  jus 
tice  was  never  administered,  that  debts  could  never  be  collected, 
that  only  a  few  months  before  a  Virginia  colonel,  a  nephew  of 
the  Governor,  had  cheated  a  stranger  out  of  a  hundred  thou 
sand  livres,  and  another  gentleman  had  been  thrown  into  prison 
for  merely  mentioning  the  fact.*  Other  nations  might,  of 
course,  make  commercial  treaties  with  the  Americans  if  they 
liked,  but  nothing  would  come  of  it.  Their  commerce  amounted 
to  little,  and,  such  as  it  was,  had  long  ago  come  back  into  the 
old  channels  and  was  entirely  in  English  hands.  As  to  the 
attempt  being  made  by  Congress  to  prohibit  the  importation 
of  goods  in  English  bottoms,  that  need  excite  no  alarm,  for 
the  States  never  could  be  brought  to  unite  on  anything.  There 
was  a  spirit  of  revolt  among  the  people  who  in  no  short  time 
would  turn  upon  their  leaders.  The  stories,  indeed,  which  then 
passed  current  in  the  papers  and  coffee-houses  of  London,  and 
were  firmly  believed  on  the  continent,  touching  the  ill-humor 
the  Americans  were  in  with  their  great  revolutionary  leaders, 
seem  too  absurd  to  have  been  listened  to  with  a  sober  face,  yet 
they  imposed  on  men  of  sense  and  experience.  Jefferson  tells 
us  how,  when  Franklin  came  back,  in  1785,  a  Swiss  gentleman 
expressed  his  solicitude  for  the  Doctor's  safety,  as  he  understood, 
he  said,  the  people  would  receive  the  great  philosopher  with 
stones.  "  Yes,"  said  Jefferson,  "  your  apprehensions  are  just. 
The  people  of  America  will  probably  salute  Doctor  Franklin 
with  the  same  stones  they  have  thrown  at  the  Marquis  Fayette."f 

*  Franklin  to  R.  Price,  August  16,  1784.  Franklin  to  Ingenhousz,  April  29, 
1785.  James  McIIenry  to  Franklin,  August  24,  1784.  Adams  to  Jay,  August 
6,  1785.  Id.,  July  19,  1785.  Id.  to  Marechal  de  Castries,  December  9,  1784. 
Id.  to  Jay,  October  21,  1785.  Jefferson  to  Hogendorp,  October  13,  17£5.  See, 
also,  complaints  in  the  Boston  Gazette,  December  5,  1784. 

f  Jefferson  to  Monroe,  August  28,  1785.  In  the  same  letter  he  goes  on  to 
say  :  "  The  English  papers  are  so  incessantly  repeating  their  lies  about  the  tumult, 


1785.  THE  FOKEIGN   LOAN  EXHAUSTED.  227 

Meanwhile  the  ministers  resolutely  combated  such  fictions, 
and  labored  hard  to  support  the  credit  and  good  name  of  their 
countrymen,  only  to  be  in  turn  heartily  reviled  by  them. 
Some  wretched  specimens  of  humanity  scarcely  deserving  the 
name  of  men  had  gone  abroad,  had  presented  themselves  to 
the  ministers,  had  been  courteously  received  and  hospitably 
entertained,  and  had  then  come  home  with  lying  stories  of 
the  splendor  in  which  the  representatives  lived.  It  was  stated 
that  they  actually  rode  in  carriages,  that  they  had  so  many 
dishes  on  their  tables  at  a  meal,  and  that  their  clothing  and 
the  rich  furniture  of  their  houses  were  sights  to  behold.*  In 
Connecticut  the  newspapers  were  particularly  loud  in  their 
demands  for  reform  ;  nor  did  they  cease  till  Congress  yielded 
to  the  outcry  and  cut  down  the  salaries  of  ministers  from 
twenty-five  hundred  to  two  thousand  pounds.  Had  this  re 
duction  been  made  in  view  of  the  straitened  condition  of 
the  Treasury,  it  would  at  least  have  been  plausible,  though 
neither  just  nor  wise.  For  never  before  had  the  finances  been 
in  quite  so  desperate  a  state  as  in  the  early  months  of  1784. 
Adams,  who  seems  to  have  been  charged  wTith  the  business  of 
begging  money,  was  at  that  time  in  London,  whither  he  had 
gone  to  recruit  his  health.  But  his  rest  was  soon  broken  by 
a  dispatch  from  his  Amsterdam  bankers  conveying  tidings  of 
a  most  alarming  nature.  Morris  had  drawn  bills  to  the  amount 
of  one  million  of  florins.  They  had  but  four  hundred  thousand 
florins  wherewith  to  cash  the  drafts.  Bills  sufficient  to  con 
sume  half  that  sum  had  already  been  presented.  They  had, 
however,  succeeded  in  putting  off  the  holders  with  excuses 
for  a  few  days,  but  if  measures  were  not  speedily  taken  to 
meet  these  demands,  the  paper  would  all  go  back  protested,  f 

Adam.s  now  felt  that  American  credit  was  indeed  at  stake, 
and,  despite  his  ill-health  and  the  rigors  of  the  season,  set  off 

the  anarchy,  the  bankruptcies,  and  distress  of  America,  that  these  ideas  prevail 
very  generally  in  Europe."  See  Jefferson  to  Madison,  September  1,  1785.  Also, 
Boston  Gazette,  December  5,  1784. 

*  "  Our  too  liberal  entertainment  of  our  countrymen  here  has  been  reported  at 
home  by  our  guests  to  our  disadvantage,  and  has  given  offence."  Franklin  to 
Ad-ims,  August  6,  1784. 

t  See  the  letter  of  Willink  and  others  to  Adams,  December  2,  1783,  in  the 
Works  of  John  Adams. 


228      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  m. 

in  January  for  Amsterdam.  The  trip,  which  may  now  be 
made  under  the  most  unfavorable  circumstances  and  in  the 
worst  of  weather  with  comfort  and  with  ease,  was  then  beset 
with  as  many  dangers  as  would  be  encountered  in  a  journey 
through  Siberia  in  the  depth  of  winter.  From  London  he 
hastened  to  .Harwich.  But  at  Harwich  he  was  obliged  to  wait 
several  days  for  fine  weather  before  the  packets  put  out  to 
sea.  The  weather  was  bitter  cold.  The  vessel  pitched  and 
rolled  so  terribly  that  fires  could  not  be  kept  up  in  the  cabin, 
and  the  sea  ran  so  high  that  three  days  were  consumed  in 
going  thirty-three  leagues.  When  at  last  the  windmills  of 
Holland  came  in  sight,  the  ice  lay  so  thick  along  the  shore 
that  Helvoet  could  not  be  reached.  The  passengers  were 
therefore  landed  on  the  island  of  Goree.  Here  boors'  wagons 
were  obtained  to  carry  the  baggage,  and  the  whole  party  set 
out  on  foot  through  the  snow  for  the  town  of  Goree,  six  miles 
distant.  There  Adams  expected  to  meet  ice-boats,  but  none 
were  to  be  had,  and  he  was  again  forced  to  travel  in  an  open 
boor's  wagon  across  the  island  to  Midel-IIarnis.  At  Midel- 
Harnis  he  was  detained  several  days  in  the  worst  of  lodgings 
till  the  ice-boats  came  to  carry  him  over  the  little  arm  of  the 
sea  to  Helvoet.  The  boats  at  length  appeared,  and  he  em 
barked  amid  the  waste  of  ice  which  every  day  went  in  and  out 
with  the  tide.  Sometimes  the  little  boat  was  rowed,  sometimes 
pushed  by  boat-hooks  between  great  blocks,  and  at  others 
dragged  over  vast  fields  of  ice  which  now  and  then  gave  way 
and  let  it  down.  Before  the  day  closed,  however,  the  little 
craft  reached  the  opposite  shore.  And  it  was  most  fortunate, 
for  the  boat  which  immediately  followed  became  wedged  in 
the  ice,  was  carried  out  to  sea  and  brought  in  by  the  tide,  and 
did  not  reach  land  till  fifteen  hours  had  been  spent  in  the  water. 
But  even  when  a  landing  was  effected  Adams  found  himself  on 
the  dike  some  two  miles  from  Helvoet.  Once  more  a  boor's 
wagon  took  him  to  the  Brille,  where  the  night  was  passed.  In 
the  morning  another  sheet  of  water  filled  with  floating  ice  was 
crossed  in  the  boats,  but  when  the  Maese  was  reached  it  was  so 
firmly  frozen  that  he  crossed  it  on  foot.  Thence  he  went  011  by 
wagon  to  Delft,  and  from  Delft  by  coach  to  the  Hague.  Two 
days  later  he  entered  Amsterdam,  to  find,  as  he  pathetically 


1785.  THE  BROKERS  AND  MONEY-LENDERS  APPLIED  TO.  229 

expressed  it,  American  credit  dead,  never  to  rise  again.*  Not 
a  single  obligation  had  been  sold  since  the  arrival  of  the  news 
of  the  mutiny  of  the  troops  at  Philadelphia,  and  the  reluc 
tance  of  the  States  to  grant  the  impost.  One  hope  remained. 
"Would  not  the  regency  of  Amsterdam  do  something  ?  The 
bankers  assured  him  they  had  already  appealed  to  the  regency. 
But  the  members  of  that  august  body  were  men  of  form  and 
precedent.  They  expressed  themselves  well  disposed  toward 
the  young  republic,  yet  they  could  not  in  this  matter  be 
obliging.  To  make  a  loan  under  the  present  circumstances 
would  be  a  departure  from  the  usual  rule.  It  would  create 
a  precedent,  and  the  very  moment  a  precedent  was  created  a 
dozen  other  powers  as  distressed  for  money  as  America  would 
rush  in  and  demand  the  same,  and  how  could  the  regency 
refuse  to  mete  to  them  from  the  same  measure  ?  Much  the 
wiser  course  would  be  to  take  back  the  application,  as  a  deci 
sion  would  surely  be  made  against  it. 

The  advice  was  taken,  and  Adams,  much  disheartened, 
went  back  to  the  Hague.  But  no  sooner  was  he  there  than 
he  wrote  to  the  bankers  entreating  them  to  again  seek  aid  of 
the  regency.f  He  would  have  them  reminded  that  the  com 
merce  of  Amsterdam  was  much  concerned  in  the  matter.  The 
city  had  a  right  to  do  what  it  wrould  with  its  own.  'No  power 
could  cite  it  as  a  precedent,  because  it  was  no  precedent. 
He  ..came  not  as  demanding  a  right,  but  as  begging  a  favor. 
And  surely,  if  the  city  saw  that  it  could  without  injury  to 
itself  confer  a  favor  on  a  friend,  nay,  at  the  same  time  im 
prove  its  commerce,  it  had  a  perfect  right  to  do  so,  whatever 
other  powers  might  think.  But  the  regency  could  be  brought 
to  no  such  mind. 

In  this  extremity  recourse  was  had  to  the  brokers  and 
money-lenders.  But  they  too  were  alarmed  by  the  reports 
of  the  tumults  and  bankruptcies  in  America  that  came  out  in 
every  issue  of  the  London  Gazettes,  and  were  as  loath  to  take 
up  the  paper  as  the  regency.  They  would  choose,  they  said, 
to  see  certain  means  provided  for  the  payment  of  the  interest 
before  they  ventured  their  fortunes  any  deeper  in  the  Ameri- 

*  Adams  to  Franklin,  January  24,  1784. 
f  Adams  to  Willink,  January  29,  1784. 


230      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  in. 

can  loan.  Adams,  however,  was  determined  the  bills  should 
not  go  back  protested.  His  bankers  were  untiring  in  their 
efforts,  and  toward  the  close  of  February  a  loan  of  one  million 
guilders  was  secured  at  what  was  then  thought  to  be  a  ruinous 
interest.  This  would,  he  wrote  Jay,  raise  a  tremendous  clamor 
in  America.  But  he  could  not  help  it.  His  situation  was 
very  disagreeable.  Could  not  Morris  be  induced  to  withhold 
his  hand  ?  It  was  not  for  him  to  question  the  justness  of  the 
drafts.  He  was  only  a  minister.  His  duty  was  to  borrow 
money,  even  if  he  went  to  the  full  extent  of  his  instructions. 
But  it  wras  hard  to  go  to  such  extremes,  well  knowing  that 
great  numbers  would  blame  him,  because  they  could  not  be 
made  to  believe  in  the  necessity  of  it.  There  was  in  Holland 
a  despotism  in  the  government  of  loans  as  absolute  as  that  of 
the  Grand  Seignior.  All  the  money  was  in  the  hands  of  five 
or  six  men,  and  they  were  as  avaricious  as  any  Jew  in  Jews' 
quarter.  This  was  one  of  the  ways  Holland  took  to  revenge 
itself  on  the  rest  of  Europe  for  the  insults  it  received  in  ne 
gotiations  and  in  wars.* 

Meanwhile,  a  question  was  submitted  to  him  of  no  small 
importance  to  hundreds  of  young  men  in  America,  and  which 
not  long  after  was  made  the  subject  of  a  diplomatic  corre 
spondence.  There  was  at  that  time  in  London  a  young  man 
named  Mason  Weems.  He  was,  he  wrote  Adams,  a  native  of 
Maryland,  and  a  student  of  divinity.  He  had  come  over  some 
two  years  before  to  complete  his  studies  and  take  orders,  for 
there  was  then  no  Bishop  of  the  English  Church  in  America, 
and  all  candidates  for  holy  orders  were  compelled  to  travel 
three  thousand  miles  to  be  ordained.  Weems  had  taken  this 
course,  had  gone  to  London  and  made  application  to  the  great 
Lowth,  Bishop  of  London.  But  Lowth  had  received  him  most 
ungraciously,  and  flatly  refused  to  lay  his  hands  on  any  man 
who  was  going  back  to  America  to  preach.  He  then  went  to 
Watson,  Bishop  of  LlandaiL  Watson  received  him  gracious 
ly,  sympathized  with  him  on  the  distressed  state  of  the  Church 
in  America,  and  even  went  so  far  as  to  hold  out  hope  that  a 
letter  from  the  Governor  of  Maryland  would  gain  for  him 
admission  to  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord.  This  he  procured  and 

*  Adams  to  Jay,  February  13,  1784. 


1785.          TEOUBLES   OF  APPLICANTS   FOR   ORDERS.  231 

carried  to  Watson,  but  was  then  plainly  told  that  nothing 
could  be  done  without  consent  of  the  Archbishop.  To  the 
Archbishop  he  went  accordingly,  had  several  interviews,  but 
was  informed  that  the  business  was  not  in  his  Lordship's 
hands.  It  was  a  parliamentary  matter,  and,  till  a  law  was 
passed  authorizing  the  ordination  of  Americans  without  put 
ting  them  to  the  pain  of  swallowing  the  oaths  of  supremacy 
and  allegiance,  nothing  could  be  done  for  him  in  England.  In 
this  extremity  he  applied  to  Adams  to  know  if  the  Bishops  in 
Holland,  in  Sweden,  or  in  Germany  could  ordain  him  without 
administering  the  oath  of  allegiance.*  The  reply  of  Adams 
reminded  Weems  that  there  were  no  Bishops  in  Holland,  and 
suggested  that  he  should  write  to  Franklin  and  Jay.  But  a 
few  days  later,  falling  in  company  with  the  Danish  minister, 
Adams  asked,  as  a  matter  of  curiosity,  if  the  rite  could  be 
performed  in  Denmark.  The  envoy  did  not  know,  but  would 
take  pains  to  inform  himself.  This  he  did ;  and  not  long 
after  his  secretary  waited  on  the  American  minister  with  the 
reply.  His  Danish  Majesty  had  submitted  the  question  to  the 
College  of  Theology,  which  gave  it  as  an  opinion  that  the  test- 
oath  could  be  omitted,  and  that,  as  Americans  were  not  sup 
posed  to  have  any  knowledge  of  the  Danish  tongue,  Latin 
would  be  used  in  the  ceremony. f 

But  in  the  mean  time  Weems,  with  a  fellow- student,  had 
written  to  Franklin  and  received  in  return  a  letter  highly 
characteristic  of  the  man.  It  began  with  advice  and  ended 
with  a  story.  He  had  applied  to  a  French  clergyman,  but  was 
told  that  the  candidate  for  orders  would  be  expected  to  swear 
allegiance  to  the  Archbishop  of  Paris.  He  had  applied  to  the 
Papal  Nuncio,  but  no  help  could  be  expected  from  that  quar 
ter  unless  the  gentlemen  became  Catholics.  He  for  his  part 
did  not  see  the  necessity  for  being  connected  with  the  Church 
of  England.  Was  not  the  Church  of  Ireland  just  as  good  ? 
Or,  if  they  could  obtain  ordination  neither  from  the  English 
Church,  nor  the  French  Church,  nor  the  Swedish  Church,  and 


*  Mason  Weems  to  Adams  (no  date).  See  on  this  subject  a  letter  from  Adams 
to  Jay,  January  4,  1786. 

f  Adams  to  Mason  Weems,  March  3,  1784.  This  kind  offer  was  declined 
White  to  Adams,  November  26,  1785. 


232      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  m. 

did  not  care  to  become  Presbyterians,  why  not  make  a  Bishop 
of  their  own  ?  The  Scottish  Church  had  done  so  when  the 
King  of  Northumberland  refused  to  lend  one  of  his  Bishops. 
If  the  British  Islands  were  sunk  in  the  sea,  and  the  world  had 
seen  greater  changes  than  that,  they  would  have  to  take  just 
such  a  course.  And  indeed,  a  hundred  years  later,  when  peo 
ple  became  more  enlightened,  it  would  be  a  matter  of  wonder 
that  men  in  America,  fully  qualified  by  their  learning  and 
their  piety  to  pray  for  and  instruct  their  neighbors,  should 
not  be  permitted  to  do  so  till  they  had  made  a  journey  of  six 
thousand  miles  out  and  back,  to  ask  leave  of  a  cross  old  gen 
tleman  at  Canterbury,  who  seemed  to  have  as  little  regard  for 
the  souls  of  the  people  of  Maryland  as  did  King  William's 
attorney-general  for  the  souls  of  the  people  of  Virginia. 
And  he  then  went  on  to  relate  one  of  those  apt  stories  for 
which  at  no  time  was  he  ever  at  a  loss.* 

Not  long  after  the  letter  was  dispatched,  Jefferson  reached 
Paris,  and  the  three  commissioners  turned  their  attention  to 
the  more  serious  business  in  hand.  They  were  instructed  to 
conclude  treaties  of  commerce  with  all  the  independent  States 
of  Europe.  Treaties  had  already  been  concluded  with  Hol 
land  and  Sweden,  and  notes  had  long  been  passing  and  repass- 
ing  between  the  Baron  de  Thulemeier,  the  Prussian  Envoy 
at  the  Hague,  and  Adams,  on  the  subject  of  a  treaty  with 
Prussia,  f  Early  in  February  Thulemeier  had  called  on  the 
American  minister,  had  thrown  out  some  significant  hints, 
and  finally  stated  in  so  many  words  that  his  master  was  of  the 
opinion  that  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  effect  some  arrange 
ment  on  the  subject  of  trade  between  the  Court  of  Prussia 
and  the  United  States  highly  beneficial  to  both.  Frederick 
had  observed  that  Carolina  rice,  indigo,  and  Virginia  tobacco 
found  a  ready  market  at  the  ports  of  Embden  and  Stettin,  and 
believed  that  the  fine  linens  of  Silesia  and  the  excellent  porce 
lain  of  Saxony  could  not  fail  of  an  equally  ready  sale  in  the 
ports  of  America.  A  year,  however,  passed  away  before  the 
treaty  was  signed,  and  in  the  meanwhile  great  changes  had  taken 
place.  Jay  had  returned  to  the  United  States  and  become 


*  Franklin  to  Weems  and  Grant,  July  18,  1764. 

f  Adams  to  the  President  of  Congress,  March  9,  1784. 


1785.         ADAMS  SENT  AS  MINISTER   TO  ENGLAND.  233 

Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs.  Franklin  had  received  his  longed- 
for  permission  to  come  home ;  Jefferson  had  been  appointed 
minister  in  his  stead,  and  Adams  had  been  sent  as  ambassador 
to  England,  ^le  choice  was  a  most  happy  one.  Of  all  the 
men  in  the  service  of  the  republic,  he  alone  was,  by  nature  and 
by  experience,  fitted  for  the  place.  There  were  indeed  many 
men  of  more  brilliant  parts  and  more  engaging  manners.  Frank-  N 
lin  was  such  a  one.  He  was  renowned  throughout  Europe  as  a  N 
philosopher;  nor  has  his  just  fame  been  cast  in  the  shade  by 
any  investigator  our  country  has  since  produced.  His  manners 
were  courtly.  His  sprightly  conversation,  his  shrewd  observa 
tions,  his  wit,  his  repartees,  his  stories,  his  good-nature,  and  the 
ease  with  which  he  accommodated  himself  to  every  class  of 
society,  made  him  an  agreeable  companion  at  all  times  and  to 
all  men.  For  such  a  man  France  was  at  that  time  precisely 
the  place,  and  he  there  rendered  services  to  his  country  which 
are  simply  inestimable.  But  the  work  to  be  done  at  the  English 
Court  required  other  qualifications  than  a  fine  mind  and  ability 
to  please ;  and  these  qualifications  were  possessed  by  Adams  in 
a  high  degree.  Diligent,  cautious,  painstaking,  he  was  an  ex 
cellent  man  of  business  and  a  careful  observer  of  events.  His 
mind  was  in  no  danger  of  being  drawn  aside  to  investigate  the 
ascent  of  balloons,  to  examine  the  pretensions  of  Mesmer,  or  to 
write  up  pamphlets  on  emigration  to  America.  He  was  con 
stantly  intent  on  matters  of  state,  and  was  as  familiar  with  pub 
lic  opinion  in  England  touching  American  affairs  as  with  public 
opinion  in  Holland.  He  had  indeed  given  it  as  his  belief,  long 
before  the  appointment  was  made,  that  the  post  of  Minister  to 
England  would  be  far  from  a  pleasant  one,  and  that  whoever 
should  occupy  it  would  find  himself  in  a  thicket  of  briers  from 
which  he  could_barely expect^  to_escape  without,  tearing  his 
flesh.* 

With  such  feelings  he  reached  London  on  the  twenty-sixth  P 
of  May,  was  presented  to  the  King  four  days  later,  and  wrote 
home  to  Jay  a  full  account  of  his  reception.  How  the  master 
of  ceremonies  waited  on  him  and  conducted  him  to  the  Secre 
tary  of  State.  How  kindly  Carmarthen  received  him  and 
took  him  off  in  a  fine  coach  to  Court.  How  the  master  of 

*  Adams  to  Jay,  April  24,  1785.     Adams  to  Dumas,  May  11,  1785. 


234      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP,  in, 

ceremonies  again  met  him  in  the  antechamber,  and  stayed  with 
him  while  the  Secretary  went  in  to  inform  the  King.  How 
full  the  room  was  of  ministers  and  lords,  bishops  and  courtiers  ; 
how  hard  they  stared  at  him,  and  how  the  Swedish  and  Dutch 
ministers  came  and  held  him  in  conversation  till  Carmarthen 
returned.  How  he  was  led  through  the  levee-room  to  the 
closet  of  the  King ;  how  he  made  his  three  reverences  ;  how 
moved  the  King  was  by  his  speech ;  and  how  gracious  was  the 
reply.  How,  when  the  audience  was  over,  the  master  of  cere 
monies  met  him  at  the  door  and  conducted  him  through  the 
apartments  to  his  carriage,  while,  as  he  went  along,  the  servants, 
the  gentlemen  porters,  and  the  under-porters,  roared  in  a  voice 
of  thunder,  "  Mr.  Adams's  servants,  Mr.  Adams's  carriage."  * 
Nor  was  he  the  only  one  who  filled  his  dispatches  with  ac 
counts  of  the  presentation.  All  the  ministers  then  assembled 
at  Saint  James  from  all  the  Courts  of  Europe  had  speculated 
with  no  small  interest  as  to  what  manner  of  reception  George 
III.  was  likely  to  give  to  the  envoy  of  his  late  rebellious  colo 
nies.  No  sooner,  therefore,  was  the  ceremony  over  than  they 
hastened  to  inform  their  masters  that  the  minister  of  a  petty 
confederation  of  thirteen  discordant  States  had  been  received 
with  the  same  marks  of  honor  it  was  customary  to  bestow  on 
the  ambassadors  of  the  proudest  kings. 

Adams  himself  was  much  pleased  with  the  treatment  ac 
corded  him,  and  went,  two  weeks  later,  with  a  light  heart  to 
make  his  first  official  visit  to  the  Secretary.  His  Lordship  was 
good  enough  to  begin  the  conversation.  He  could,  he  said, 
answer  for  himself,  and*  he  believed  he  could  reasonably  do  so 
for  the  rest  of  the  King's  servants,  that  they  were  sincerely  de 
sirous  of  cultivating  the  most  cordial  friendship  with  America. 
Some  animosities  would,  of  course,  remain  among  individu 
als,  but  it  might  be  in  their  power  to  do  much  toward  sooth 
ing  them.  Adams  expressed  his  delight  at  hearing  such  ami 
cable  expressions  from  his  Lordship,  and  reminded  him  that 
there  were  six  points  to  be  discussed.  The  most  pressing  was 
perhaps  the  occupation  of  the  posts  along  the  frontier  by 
British  troops.  It  surely  was  not  unknown  to  Ins  Lordship  that 
the  retention  of  the  posts  had  deprived  the  merchants  of  a 

*  Adams  to  Jay,  May  27,  1785. 


1785.  THE  MATTER   OF  THE  DEBTS.  235 

most  profitable  trade  in  fur,  which  they  justly  considered  as 
their  right.  The  skins  that  would  have  been  obtained  from 
the  Indians,  had  the  posts  been  given  up  in  accordance  with 
the  treaty,  would  assuredly  have  come  to  England  in  payment 
of  the  debts.  Their  money  value  would  have  exceeded  several 
hundred  thousand  pounds.*  And  even  one  hundred  thousand 
pounds  would,  as  his  Lordship  well  knew,  have  gone  far  toward 
satisfying  the  demands  of  the  creditors.  The  carrying  off  of 
the  negroes  was  another  matter  yet  to  be  adjusted.  The  in 
jury  done  by  this  act  was  little  felt  north  of  the  Potomac,  and 
it  would  be  very  difficult  to  say  just  how  much  it  was  felt  to 
the  south.  The  loss  indeed  was  threefold,  for  it  was  a  loss 
not  merely  of  the  money-value  of  the  slaves,  but  also  of  their 
labor,  and  the  profits  of  the  products  of  their  labor.  Had  the 
seventh  article  of  the  treaty  been  kept  inviolate  every  one  of 
them  would  at  that  moment  have  been  at  work  in  the  tobacco- 
fields  or  the  rice-swamps,  and  the  fruits  of  their  toil  would 
have  gone  to  pay  the  debts.  But  distressing  as  these  things 
were  to  the  planters,  the  restrictions  lately  put  upon  Ameri 
can  commerce  were  still  more  distressing  to  the  merchants. 
Believing  that  trade  would  speedily  return  to  its  old  channels, 
and  be  managed  in  the  old  way,  English  merchants  had  made 
large  advances,  and  American  merchants  had  contracted  large 
debts.  Both  expected  that  remittances  would  be  made  in  the 
articles  used  for  such  purposes  before  the  war.  But  this  was 
not  to  be.  Hindrances  were  set  up  in  the  form  of  imposts 
laid  by  England  on  all  American  exports.  Neither  rice,  to 
bacco,  pitch,  tar,  turpentine,  ships,  nor  oil,  in  short,  none 
of  the  articles  which  had  in  times  past  been  sent  out  in  pay 
ment  of  debts  could  now  be  sent  out  at  all.  The  conse 
quence  was  that  the  debtors,  in  their  zeal  to  make  payments, 
had  drained  the  country  almost  of  its  last  penny.  The  rate 
of  interest  had  doubled.  The  price  of  bills  of  exchange  had 
gone  up  to  ten  per  cent  above  par,  and  every  kind  of  pro- 

*  A  list  of  furs  advertised  at  London  for  the  spring  sales  of  1787  contained 
over  three  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  skins.  All  came  from  the  United  States, 
and  were  valued,  at  a  low  computation,  at  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand 
pounds  sterling.  See  Consequences  of  the  Retention  of  the  Frontier  Fosts  by  tha 
British.  American  Museum,  April,  1787,  p.  280. 


236      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  in. 

duce  become  so  dear  that  a  great  quantity  lay  rotting  in  the 
London  warehouses  because  it  would  not  bring  in  England 
the  price  that  had  been  paid  for  it  in  America.  The  con 
struction,  again,  which  had  of  late  been  put  upon  the  armis 
tice  was  another  matter  of  just  complaint.  It  was  well  known 
that  a  number  of  valuable  ships  had,,  after  the  conclusion 
of  the  month  stipulated  in  the  treaty,  been  captured  off  the 
coast  of  America,  and  were  still  withheld  from  their  right 
ful  owners.  A  large  balance  in  favor  of  the  United  States,  in 
the  account  of  the  charges  of  prisoners,  was  likewise  kept 
back.* 

Carmarthen  expressed  his  willingness  to  give  every  one  of 
these  points  a  due  consideration  as  soon  as  something  was 
given  him  in  writing  to  begin  on.  He  was  sure  that  with  a 
little  patience  and  a  little  time  all  would  be  happily  ad 
justed.  Many  rubs  would  undoubtedly  be  met  with  ;  passion 
and  private  interest  would  frequently  have  to  be  overcome. 
But  if  the  ministers  on  both  sides  took  care  to  keep  right, 
there  was  much  reason  to  expect  success.  What  he  said  was 
indeed  quite  true,  for  it  then  seemed  to  the  most  dispassion 
ate  observers  that  much  time  would  be  expended,  that  much 
patience  would  be  consumed,  and  not  a  little  mediation  gone 
through  with  before  the  debtor  and  the  creditor  could  be 
brought  to  an  amicable  understanding.  Each  stoutly  main 
tained  that  his  view  was  the  only  just  one,  and  complained 
loudly  of  the  severity  of  the  demands  of  the  other.  What, 
the  debtor  asked,  were  the  facts  in  the  case  ?  Before  the  war 
there  existed  between  England  and  America  a  free  commerce 
founded  on  common  faith.  The  English  merchants  had,  just 
before  the  Lexington  fight,  sold  to  the  American  merchants 
and  planters  great  quantities  of  goods.  The  merchants  were 
to  pay  for  such  goods  as  they  received  when  disposed  of. 
The  planters  were  to  make  remittances  for  such  goods  as  they 
received  when  their  crops  of  rice,  of  indigo  and  tobacco  had 
ripened  and  been  sent  to  market.  But  long  before  the  mer 
chants  had  sold  their  bales  of  calamancoes  and  durants,  nay, 
while  many  of  them  still  lay  in  the  holds  of  the  ships  that 
carried  them  over  the  sea,  England  sent  an  armed  force  and 

*  Adams  to  Jay,  June  17,  1785. 


1785.   POSITION  TAKEN    BY  THE   AMERICAN  DEBTORS.     237 

seized  them.  ~Nor  did  this  suffice.  She  carried  off  also  the 
indigo,  the  tobacco  and  the  rice  the  planters  had  provided  in 
payment  of  their  debts,  and  the  negroes  on  whose  labor  they 
depended  for  future  crops.  And  now  she  had  the  impudence 
to  demand  recompense  for  the  things  she  had  herself  carried 
off.  It  was  difficult  to  see  on  what  principles  of  justice  or  of 
common  sense  she  could  refuse  to  make  compensation  for  the 
seized  property.  Suppose  a  draper  who  had  sold  a  piece  of 
linen  to  a  neighbor  on  credit  should,  the  moment  he  had 
quitted  the  shop,  run  after  him,  take  the  linen  away  by  force, 
and  send  the  bailiff  to  arrest  him  for  debt.  Would  any  court 
of  law  in  the  land  award  judgment  to  the  draper  without 
ordering  the  restitution  of  the  linen  ?  Let  England  give  back 
the  goods  she  had  seized,  and  it  would  then  be  time  to  talk 
of  a  reckoning.  But  this  was  not  all.  Having  required  pay 
ment  for  property  they  had  seized,  the  English  creditors  now 
went  on  to  insist  that  interest  should  be  allowed  on  the  debts 
for  the  eight  years  of  the  war.  Some  big-wigs  had  been  con 
sulted  and  had  given  it  as  their  opinion  that  interest  could  be 
collected,  that  war  never  interrupted  the  interest  nor  prin 
cipal  of  debts,  and  that  there  was  no  difference  between  the 
late  war  and  any  other  war.  But  the  best  lawyers  in  America 
held  that  there  was  a  great  difference.  The  war  for  inde 
pendence,  they  said,  was  a  complete  dissolution  of  all  laws 
and  all  government ;  and,  consequently,  of  all  contracts  made 
under  those  laws.  It  was  a  familiar  maxim  of  the  law  that  a 
personal  right  or  an  obligation  once  suspended  was  lost  for 
ever  ;  the  rights  of  the  creditors  were  during  the  struggle  in 
a  state  of  non-existence,  and  no  interest  could  therefore  grow 
out  of  them,  as  they  were  not  revived  till  the  intervention  of 
the  treaty.  But  even  this  was  not  all.  Every  sensible  man 
who  had  a  sum  of  money  owing  to  him  would  naturally  think 
it  to  his  interest  to  aid  the  debtor  to  the  utmost  in  the  pay 
ment,  or  at  least  not  to  strive  to  hinder  him.  But  the  conduct 
of  the  English  merchants  was  precisely  the  reverse  of  this. 
While  on  the  one  hand  they  clamored  for  payment  with  in 
terest,  on  the  other  they  were  at  great  pains  to  make  the 
remittances  they  so  much  desired  impossible.  The  only  gold 
mines  America  possessed  were  her  lands  and  the  sea.  Yet  by 


238      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  ASTD  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  in. 

an  odious  Navigation  Act  they  forbade  American  merchants  to 
send  them  the  products  of  the  land  and  the  sea.  Remittances 
of  rice,  tobacco,  ships,  whale-oil  and  fish  were  no  longer  re 
ceived. 

The  view  taken  by  the  creditors  was  a  very  different 
one.  The  debts,  they  said,  had  been  contracted  in  times  of 
peace,  in  the  usual  way,  and  were  justly  due.  It  wTas  there 
fore  harsh  and  unreasonable  for  many  of  the  States,  in  di 
rect  violation  of  the  treaty,  to  place  legal  impediments  in 
the  way  of  a  recovery  of  them.  The  spirit  of  migration  into 
the  back  wilderness  of  America  was  most  alarming.  Every 
month  numbers  of  debtors  were  going  off  into  the  canebrakes 
of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  Yet  there  w^as  not  a  sheriff  in 
the  land  who  would  or  could  attach  the  property  or  arrest  the 
persons  of  these  men  known  to  be  removing  to  places  where 
they  could  never  be  come  at.*  As  to  the  Navigation  Act, 
that  w^as  an  eminently  good  thing.  Every  nation  had  an  un 
questionable  right  to  govern  its  own  commerce,  its  own  im 
ports,  its  own  exports,  in  its  own  way.  What  right,  then,  had 
American  merchants  to  think  hard  of  them  for  wishing  to 
encourage  their  shipwrights  and  their  whale-fishery  ?  If  they 
were  to  be  so  foolish  as  to  listen  to  the  complaints  of  their 
friends  across  the  water,  the  day  would  soon  come  wiien  the 
Americans  would  be  their  ship-carpenters,f  when  merchants 
would  be  compelled  to  man  their  ships  with  American  seamen 
from  trie  banks  of  Newfoundland,  and  when  the  Board  of 
Admiralty  would  have  to  send  to  Boston  or  New  York  every 
time  they  wanted  a  frigate  or  a  man-of-war  for  his  Majesty's 
navy.  The  whale-fishery  and  the  Newfoundland  fisheries 
were  the  great  nurseries  of  British  seamen,  and  the  moment 
foreigners  were  allowed  to  carry  oil  to  England  and  quin 
tals  of  fish  to  the  West  Indies,  that  moment  English  shipping 


*  This  complaint  was  set  forth  by  Colquhoun,  the  Provost  of  Glasgow,  in  his 
conversation  with  Adams.  Colquhoun  had  been  sent  to  London  by  the  Glasgow 
merchants  to  confer  with  those  of  London  on  the  matter  of  seeking  government 
aid  in  the  recovery  of  their  debts.  See  Adams  to  Jay,  June  6,  1785. 

f  Adams  to  Jay,  August  30,  1785.  The  letters  of  Adams  written  at  this 
time  contain  a  most  excellent  account  of  the  public  feeling  in  England  on  the 
Navigation  Act,  and  a  commercial  treaty  with  the  United  States.  See  letters  of 
June  26,  1785;  July  19,  1785;  August  6,  1785. 


1785.  ADAMS'S  FIRST  INTERVIEW   WITH  PITT.  239 

would  begin  to  decline  and  English  seamen  to  become  fewer 
in  number.  It  was  merely  a  wise  endeavor  to  make  the  most 
of  their  own  means  and  their  own  nurseries  that  had  prompted 
the  act  so  bitterly  reviled  in  the  States.  If  the  Americans 
wished  to  enjoy  the  liberty  and  the  profit  of  carrying  their 
salt  fish,  their  tobacco,  their  lumber,  their  tar,  their  pitch,  and 
their  turpentine  to  the  West  Indian  colonies,  they  should  be 
able  to  give  something  in  return.  And  what  could  be  given 
in  return  ?  The  privilege  of  going  to  New  York  or  Boston 
with  cargoes  of  tammies  and  laces  ?  That,  as  every  one 
knew,  was  given  simply  because  it  could  not  be  withheld. 
Congress  did  not  possess  the  power  to  levy  imposts  and  duties, 
and  the  several  States  could  never  be  induced  to  give  that 
power.  Of  what  use,  then,  was  it  to  make  a  reciprocal  treaty 
with  America  when  they  were  sure  of  getting  all  the  com 
merce  with  that  country  it  was  desirable  to  have  ?  The  ex 
periment  had  been  tried.  After  the  close  of  the  war  French 
and  Dutch  merchants  had  entered  into  competition  with  them 
for  the  American  trade.  But  three  fourths  had  been  ruined 
by  the  venture.  Americans  had  found  that  they  could  not 
supply  themselves  elsewhere.  Nor  was  it  difficult  to  make 
an  explanation.  During  the  war  business  had  stagnated. 
But  manufactures  had  been  largely  carried  on,  and  the  rapid 
progress  the  fine  arts  had  of  late  made  in  the  kingdom  gave 
to  the  manufacturers  great  taste  and  skill.  Their  wares  there 
fore  surpassed  those  of  all  other  makers  in  elegance  of  design, 
in  cheapness  and  utility.  They  stood  in  no  danger  of  being 
outstripped.* 

But  while  the  multitude  held  such  language  as  this  Adams 
labored  hard  to  convince  the  ministry  of  the  manifold  advan 
tages  of  a  commercial  treaty.  Late  in  August  he  obtained  for 
the  first  time  a  conference  with  Pitt.  Pitt  was  then  enjoying 
a  height  of  power  and  popularity  which  he  never  surpassed  in 
the  whole  course  of  an  administration  which  lasted  till  the 
nineteenth  century  had  come  in.  At  an  age  when  most  young 
men,  even  of  remarkable  abilities,  are  still  pursuing  their 
studies  or  fitting  themselves  for  professions,  he  was  renowned 
as  an  orator,  as  a  statesman,  as  a  great  parliamentary  leader. 

*  Adams  to  Jay,  June  26  and  July  19,  1785. 


240      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP,  in, 

He  was  now  in  his  twenty-sixth  year,  and  was  by  far  the  great 
est  subject  that  had  been  seen  in  England  since  the  days  of 
Oliver  Cromwell.  He  was  adored  by  the  nation ;  he  was 
petted  by  the  Court ;  he  domineered  over  Parliament ;  he  was 
absolute  in  the  Cabinet ;  he  had  put  down  the  coalition  undei 
his  feet ;  he  had  put  up  the  stocks  to  sixty-five ;  he  was  ex 
tolled  as  a  financier  greater  than  Montague.  As  a  parliamen 
tary  tactician  he  was  placed  above  Walpole  and  Chatham.  The 
influence  he  held  over  George  III.  was  believed  to  be  greater 
than  that  which  Yilliers  had  held  over  James  I.  His 
haughtiness,  his  pride,  his  contempt  for  titles,  for  garters,  and 
for  money,  had  gained  him  a  greater  share  of  the  favor  of  the 
multitude  than  had  ever  been  accorded  to  Monmouth  or  to 
Wilkes.  But  it  was  not  till  after  the  Houses  had  risen  and  the 
news  of  the  Massachusetts  Navigation  Act  had  been  made  pub 
lic  in  the  Gazettes,  that  he  found  time  to  turn  his  attention 
from  the  twenty  resolutions  concerning  Ireland  to  affairs  con 
cerning  America. 

As  soon  as  Adams  presented  himself  Pitt  graciously  asked 
what  were  the  points  to  be  discussed  between  them.  He 
was  told  that  they  were  the  evacuation  of  the  posts,  the  con 
struction  put  upon  the  armistice,  a  treaty  of  commerce,  and 
the  negroes  carried  off  by  Sir  Guy  Carleton.  The  carrying 
off  of  the  negroes  was,  he  said,  so  clearly  against  the  treaty 
that  measures  would  be  taken  to  satisfy  that  demand  as  soon 
as  it  could  be  proved  how  many  were  taken.  He  then  went 
on  to  consider  the  armistice.  This  was  contained  in  the  twen 
ty-second  article  of  the  preliminary  treaty,  and  provided  that 
all  ships  taken  by  either  side  in  the  North  Sea  or  the  Brit- 
ish  Channel  after  twelve  days,  reckoning  from  the  ratifica 
tion  of  the  treat}7,  should  be  restored.  From  the  mouth  of 
the  Channel  to  the  Canary  Islands  the  term  was  to  be  one 
month.  From  the  Canaries  to  the  equator,  and  in  all  other 
parts  of  the  world,  the  space  was  to  be  five  months.  The 
language  seemed  too  clear  to  admit  of  misconstruction.  It 
was  precisely  such  as  was  to  be  found  in  all  the  treaties  made 
during  the  eighteenth  century.  But  no  sooner  had  a  vessel 
taken  off  the  coast  of  America  by  a  British  cruiser  within  the 
second  month  been  brought  into  the  port  of  New  York,,  than 


1785.  ADAMS'S  FIRST   INTERVIEW  WITH  PITT.  241 

the  judge  of  admiralty  condemned  it  as  a  lawful  prize.  The 
tidings  spread  to  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut  where  similar 
decrees  were  thereafter  rendered  against  English  vessels.  All 
this  had  already  been  explained  to  Carmarthen,  and  the  assur 
ance  given  that  the  aggrieved  Englishmen  had  but  to  carry 
their  cases  to  the  Admiralty  Court  appointed  by  Congress  and 
the  decisions  of  the  inferior  court  would  instantly  be  set  aside.* 
When,  therefore,  Pitt  mentioned  the  armistice,  Adams  showed 
the  construction  put  on  it  to  be  absurd.  It  would,  he  said, 
place  the  whole  coast  of  America  within  the  period  of  five 
months.  The  United  States  was  not  between  the  Canaries  and 
the  equator.  Surely,  then,  it  was  not  within  the  period  of  two 
months.  Neither  was  it  in  the  Channel  nor  the  North  Sea. 
Hence  it  was  not  within  the  period  of  twelve  days.  It  must, 
therefore,  be  either  in  the  period  of  one  month  or  five  months ; 
but  that  it  should  be  in  the  five-months'  time  was  an  idea 
never  for  a  moment  entertained  by  the  contracting  parties. 
Pitt  said  he  thought  this  was  clear,  and  might  easily  be  ar 
ranged.  But  as  to  the  posts,  that  was  a  point  connected  with 
the  debts,  and  must  be  settled  at  the  same  time.  To  this 
Adams  made  reply  in  much  the  same  language  he  had  held 
with  Carmarthen  ;  assured  him  that  interest  on  the  debts  was 
out  of  the  question,  and  that  it  was  highly  improbable  a  jury 
could  be  found  from  Georgia  to  New  Hampshire  who  would 
by  their  verdict  give  interest  to  a  creditor.  Pitt  observed  that 
such  decisions  would  surprise  the  creditors,  that  war  never  in 
terrupted  interest,  and  that  the  late  one  was  no  different  from 
any  other.  He  then  passed  to  the  treaty  of  commerce  and 
asked  what  were  the  lowest  terms  the  States  would  accept. 
Adams  said  he  could  not  undertake  to  answer  as  he  did  not 
know.  But  one  thing  he  did  know :  that  all  men  of  sense  and 
'judgment  in  America  had  long  been  weighing  in  their  minds 
the  advantages  and  the  disadvantages  of  a  free  commerce  on 
the  one  hand,  and  a  Navigation  Act  on  the  other.  The  present 
time  was  a  most  critical  one.  The  news  lately  brought  over 
from  all  parts  of  the  States,  and  the  Navigation  Act  recently 
adopted  by  Massachusetts,  indicated  in  a  manner  not  to  be  mis 
taken  which  way  the  balance  had  begun  to  incline.  Whether 

*  Adams  to  Carmarthen,  July  27,  1785. 
VOL.  i. — 17 


242      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  m. 

the  balance  went  on  inclining  more  and  more  in  that  direction 
would  depend  entirely  on  the  conduct  of  England.  And  just 
what  that  conduct  should  be  was  for  Mr.  Pitt  to  decide.  The 
more  Americans  thought  on  the  advantages  of  a  Navigation 
Act  such  as  that  in  force  in  England,  the  more  they  would  be 
drawn  toward  it.  He  had  heard  that  there  were  five  hundred 
foreign  ships  entering  and  clearing  every  year  at  the  ports  of 
the  United  States.  How  easy  it  would  be  to  have  every  one 
of  these  ships  built  in  America,  owned  in  America,  manned  by 
American  crews,  and  commanded  by  American  captains !  Once 
there  was  in  England  a  law  "that  none  of  the  King's  liege- 
people  should  ship  any  merchandise  out  of  or  into  the  realm 
but  only  in  ships  of  the  King's  liegance,  on  pain  of  forfeiture." 
What  hindered  America  from  adopting  this  very  act  in  all  its 
rigor  ?  'No  one  would  deny  that  every  nation  had  a  right  to 
regulate  its  own  commerce  as  it  saw  fit.  To  this  Pitt  agreed. 
No  one  could  doubt  the  ability  of  the  Americans  to  build  ships, 
nor  the  abundance  of  their  materials.  Pitt  assented.  Nobody 
would  pretend  that  rice,  ginseng,  indigo,  tobacco,  grown  on 
American  soil  and  transported  in  American  ships,  would  not 
find  a  market  in  Europe.  Nor  would  anybody  pretend  that 
cargoes  of  European  goods  could  not  be  had  to  carry  home 
again.  Nay,  even  England,  though  she  should  make  ever  so 
strict  laws  against  exports  and  imports  in  American  ships, 
would  still  be  glad  to  obtain,  through  France  or  Holland,  large 
quantities  of  American  produce,  and  to  sell  through  the  same 
channel  as  much  of  her  manufactures  as  Americans  would  pay 
for.  Pitt  smiled  at  this  and  owned  that  there  were  American 
articles  of  much  importance  to  England.  "But,"  said  he, 
" Englishmen  are  much  attached  to  their  navigation."  "And 
Americans,  too,"  said  Adams,  "  to  theirs."  "  But,"  answered 
the  Prime  Minister,  "  the  United  States  having  become  a  for 
eign  power,  our  Navigation  Act  would  not  answer  its  ends  if  we 
should  dispense  with  it  toward  you."  u  I  beg  your  pardon," 
said  Adams  to  this,  "  for  I  think  your  Navigation  Act  will  com 
pletely  defeat  its  own  end  as  far  as  it  respects  us.  The  end  of 
the  Navigation  Act,  as  expressed  in  its  own  preamble,  is  to  con 
fine  the  commerce  of  the  colonies  to  the  mother  country ;  but 
now  we  are  become  independent  States,  instead  of  confining  our 


1785.  ADAMS'S  FIRST  INTERVIEW    WITH   PITT.  243 

trade  to  Great  Britain,  it  will  drive  it  to  other  countries."  Pitt 
did  not  deny  this.  "  But,"  said  he,  "  you  will  allow  we  have 
a  right."  "  Certainly  I  do  ;  and  you,  sir,  will  allow  we  have 
a  right  too."  "  Yes,  I  do ;  but  you  cannot  blame  Englishmen 
for  being  attached  to  their  ships  and  seamen,  which  are  so 
essential  to  them."  "  Indeed,  I  do  not,  sir ;  nor  can  you  blame 
Americans"  for  being  attached  to  theirs,  which  are  so  much 
fewer  and  so  much  more  essential  to  them."  "No,"  said  Pitt, 
"  I  do  not  blame  them."  And  he  then  proceeded  to  ask 
whether  any  advantage  could  be  given  to  England  that  would 
not  immediately  become  the  right  of  France;  what  was  the 
state  of  the  American  whale-fishery ;  what  that  of  the  French 
whale-fishery  Calonne  was  laboring  to  introduce  ;  and  whether 
American  whalers  had  found  a  market  for  their  oil  out  of 
France.  Adams  thought  they  had  found  a  good  market  at 
Bremen.  Indeed,  he  did  not  doubt  but  that  spermaceti-oil 
would  be  salable  in  any  of  the  great  European  cities  that 
were  illuminated  at  night.  The  fat  of  this  whale  yielded  an 
oil  that  was  cheaper  and  better  than  any  vegetable-oil  in  use. 
No  substance  in  nature  gave  such  a  clear  and  beautiful  flame, 
lie  for  one  was  surprised  that  Englishmen  preferred  dark 
ness,  and,  consequently,  burglaries,  murders,  and  robberies  in 
their  streets,  to  receiving,  as  a  remittance,  spermaceti-oil.  The 
lamps  around  Grosvenor  square,  he  knew,  were  dim  by  mid 
night  and  out  by  two.  Those  in  Downing  street,  he  had  no 
doubt,  were  the  same.  But  had  they  been  fed  with  whale-oil 
they  would  have  burned  till  the  sun  was  long  up. 

And  now  that  the  Cabinet  had  obtained  from  the  American 
envoy  as  much  information  as  they  were  likely  to  get,  they 
maintained  a  contemptuous  silence,  which  was,  he  wrote  home, 
both  galling  and  perplexing.  No  answer  was  made  to  his 
notes.  No  heed  was  given  to  his  memorials.  No  considera 
tion  was  accorded  to  his  requests.  He  was  indeed  treated  with 
great  civility.  Audiences  were  granted  to  him  by  the  Secre 
tary  as  often  as  he  demanded  them.  But  upon  such  occasions 
he  was,  he  complained,  made  to  do  all  the  talking  while  Car 
marthen  acted  the  part  of  a  civil  and  attentive  listener.  The 
most  that  he  could  at  any  time  wring  from  him  was  a  short, 
testy,  unmeaning  answer.  Whenever  he  mentioned  the  posts 


244      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  m. 

he  was  invariably  told  that  was  a  matter  connected  with  the 
debts.  Whenever  he  pressed  for  an  answer  to  his  notes,  Car 
marthen,  in  broken  sentences,  would  express  a  wish  that  the 
ministry  would  answer  everybody.  Whenever  he  offered  a 
gentle  remonstrance  against  the  silence  with  which  his  most 
urgent  memorials  were  treated,  a  hint  was  dropped  that  they 
wrere  in  the  hands  of  Pitt.  With  these  few  exceptions  Adams 
was,  at  all  the  interviews,  the  sole  speaker.  He  was  suffered 
to  introduce  such  topics  as  he  saw  fit,  in  such  order  as  he  saw 
fit ;  to  discuss  them  without  interruption  to  the  end ;  and  when 
he  would  pause,  in  the  hope  that  Carmarthen  would  drop  a 
hint,  or  make  some  comment,  or  start  a  fresh  topic,  a  dead 
silence  would  be  maintained  till  such  time  as,  mortified  and 
abashed,  he  passed  on  to  a  new  theme.* 

From  that  time  forth  to  the  day  when,  three  years  later,  he 
returned  to  America,  he  continued  to  fill  his  letters  with  re 
proaches,  with  entreaties,  and  with  grave  advice.  How  long 
would  the  Boston  merchants  tamely  submit  to  pay  thirty,  or 
even  fifty  per  cent,  duty  in  the  port  of  Liverpool,  and  exact 
but  ten  in  the  port  of  Boston  ?  f  There  was  but  one  way  to 
escape  from  such  unjust  exactions,  and  that  was  by  a  Naviga 
tion  Act  as  severe  as  that  enforced  in  England.  He  most  ear 
nestly  besought  the  States  to  lose  no  time  in  passing  a  like  act. 
Were  the  measures  much  longer  delayed  the  country  would 
become  an  endless  theme  of  derision.  The  more  it  suffered, 
the  more  would  it  be  laughed  at.  But  once  in  force,  the 
reputation  of  America  would  instantly  rise  all  over  Europe. 
The  act  would,  moreover,  be  of  great  help  in  treating  with 
France  and  Holland,  as  well  as  with  England.  For  the  very 
moment  these  foreign  powers  saw  the  States  on  the  right  way, 

*  It  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  transcribe  a  few  of  the  sentences  from  the 
letters  of  Adams  in  which  he  sets  forth  his  troubles.  "  I  am  sorry,"  says  he,  on 
one  occasion,  "  that,  in  representing  all  these  conversations,  I  am  obliged  to  make 
myself  the  principal  speaker;  but  I  cannot  get  them  to  talk."  August  25,  1785. 
Again  he  says :  "  I  can  obtain  no  answer  from  the  ministry  to  any  one  demand, 
proposal,  or  inquiry."  To  Jefferson,  October  11,  1785.  "In  short,  sir,  I  am  like 
to  be  as  insignificant  here  as  you  can  imagine.  I  shall  be  treated,  as  I  have  been, 
with  all  the  civility  that  is  shown  to  other  foreign  ministers,  but  shall  do  nothing, 
I  shall  not  even  be  answered/'  December  3,  1785. 

f  Adams  to  Jay,  August  30,  1785. 


1785.  ADAMS  URGES   A  NAVIGATION   ACT.  245 

and  united  in  determined  measures,  they  would  esteem  more 
highly  the  commerce,  the  credit,  and  the  good-will  of  America. 
Frenchmen  were  asking  quite  as  often  as  Englishmen,  What 
have  you  to  give  in  return  for  this  and  that  privilege,  for  this 
and  that  article  of  trade  ?  Marechal  de  Castries  was  perpetu 
ally  demanding,  What  have  you  to  give  in  return  for  leave 
to  trade  with  the  French  Indies  I  *  W  hen  once  a  Navigation 
Act  had  been  made,  then  it  could  be  said,  when  questions  of 
this  kind  were  sneeringly  asked,  We  will  repeal  our  Naviga 
tion  Act,  or  take  off  our  impost  in  return  for  your  taking  off 
yours.  Sometimes  his  faith  in  his  countrymen  seemed  to  fail 
him,  and  he  plainly  told  them  their  actions  were  ruinous  to 
their  dignity  abroad.  It  was  now  in  the  hands  of  the  States 
to  determine  whether  there  was  or  was  not  a  union  in  America. 
If  there  were,  then  might  they  easily  make  themselves  respected. 
But  if  there  were  not,  they  would  be  little  regarded  and  would 
soon  be  at  war  with  England.  It  behooved  the  great  seaport 
towns  to  look  well  to  their  defence.  Let  them  put  the  fortifi 
cations  they  had  in  as  good  condition  as  possible,  provide 
arms  and  ammunition,  and  have  the  militia  well  drilled.  It 
was  quite  impossible  for  a  man  who  did  not  live  in  England  to 
imagine  the  bitterness  felt  toward  America.  The  parliamen 
tary  factions  led  by  Shelburne,  by  Buckingham,  by  North, 
and  by  Fox,  were  united  as  one  man  against  her.  The  Naviga 
tion  Act  was  highly  popular,  and  though  it  was  well  known  to 
give  much  encouragement  to  smuggling,  the  Government  did 
not  dare  to  meddle  with  it.  Some  hot  heads  went  so  far  as  to 
say  they  would  distress  America  till  she  petitioned  to  come 
again  under  English  government,  when  they  would  spurn  her. 
Others  would  most  willingly  embarrass  Pitt  in  every  rational 
plan  of  agreement  and  plunge  him  into  a  new  war.  He  knew 
that  some  of  his  countrymen  were  thoughtless  enough  to  say 
that  one  way  out  of  the  difficulty  was  to  end  all  commerce. 
There  was  some  truth  in  this.  It  was  true  that  if  all  inter 
course  between  Europe  and  America  were  to  stop  forever, 
if  every  ship  in  her  docks  were  to  be  burnt  and  the  keel  of 
another  never  to  be  laid,  the  people  would  still  be  the  happiest 
people  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  in  fifty  years  the  most 

*  Adams  to  Jay,  October  21,  1785. 


24:6      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  IIL 

powerful.  The  luxuries  brought  over  from  the  Old  World  de 
stroyed  prosperity,  enfeebled  the  race  of  men,  and  retarded  the 
increase  of  population.  But  to  talk  of  annihilating  commerce 
was  idle.  The  character  of  the  people  must  be  considered. 
The  tortoise  and  the  sea-fowl  were  not  more  aquatic.  The  love 
of  commerce,  with  its  pleasures  and  its  conveniences,  was  as 
unalterable  as  their  natures.*  Connections  with  Europe,  with 
Asia,  and  with  Africa  must  be  made,  and  that  speedily.  It 
was,  however,  a  true  maxim  of  diplomacy  that  he  negotiated 
ill  who  could  not  make  himself  feared,f  and  there  was  little  in 
the  course  now  followed  by  the  States  to  inspire  fear.  An 
American  army  awakened  no  dread  in  England,  for  no  thoughts 
were  there  entertained  of  again  sending  an  army  to  Amer 
ica.  On  the  navy  Englishmen  looked  with  profound  contempt. 
They  could  be  made  to  smart  only  by  restrictions  and  imposts. 
But  to  the  warnings  and  advice  of  the  minister  a  large 
part  of  his  countrymen  turned  a  deaf  ear.  The  opinions  which 
many  then  held  touching  the  importance  of  commercial  rela 
tions  and  the  principles  of  trade  were  most  lamentable,  and 
not  a  little  singular  in  a  country  which  had  for  a  century  past 
been  so  deeply  concerned  in  commercial  ventures.  When  the 
advocates  of  the  impost  and  the  regulation  of  trade  by  Con 
gress  bitterly  complained  that  their  ships  were  shut  out  of 
British  ports,  and  that  while  London  merchants  enjoyed  the 
benefits  of  a  free  trade  with  the  States,  American  oil  was  taxed 
eighteen  pounds  a  ton,;};  and  tobacco  sixteen  pence  a  pound 
in  Liverpool,*  they  were  told  the  world  was  all  before  them 
where  to  choose.  That  if  the  seaports  of  the  British  isles 
and  colonies  were  shut,  those  of  all  other  nations  were  open, 
and  why  not  send  their  oil  and  tobacco-leaves  to  Lisbon,  to 
Amsterdam,  to  Bordeaux?  Why  not  carry  their  rice  and 
timber  to  the  Azores,  to  the  Canaries,  to  Cuba,  and  the  islands 
of  the  West  Indian  sea?  When  they  answered  that  these 
ports  were  closed  to  foreigners,  and  that  they  could  never  hope 
to  bring  sugar  from  the  Brazils,  or  Madeira  from  Lisbon,  till 
they  could  give  something;  in  exchange,  and  that  so  lone;  as 

«/  o  G  O     '  cD 

Dutchmen  and  Spaniards,  Frenchmen  and  Portuguese,  were 

*  Adams  to  Jay,  December  6,  1785.         f  Ibid.,  May  5,  1785. 

J  Ibid.,  July  19,  1785.  *  Adams  to  Jefferson,  July  24,  1785. 


1785.  THE   POPULAR   IDEA   OF   COMMERCE.  247 

free  to  come  and  trade  at  Boston  or  JSTew  York,  they  had  noth 
ing  to  give  in  reciprocity,  the  opponents  of  the  impost  were 
dumfounded,  and  gave  it  as  their  opinion  that  if  commerce 
were  carried  on  in  that  way  the  sooner  it  ceased  the  better. 
No  amount  of  argument,  however  lucidly  and  favorably  ex 
pressed,  could  make  it  clear  that  commercial  compacts  between 
nations  bore  any  resemblance  to  the  commercial  compacts  that 
were  made  every  day  between  individuals  on  the  Exchange.  It 
was  easy  to  understand  that,  in  the  dealings  of  importers  with 
merchants,  or  merchants  with  tradesmen,  each  party  was  guided 
in  his  conduct  by  what  seemed  to  him  to  be  best  for  his  own 
personal  interest.  But  that  great  and  opulent  nations  should, 
in  their  commercial  treaties,  be  influenced  by  such  sordid  mo 
tives,  was  unheard  of.  If  France  would  not  let  Americans 
carry  fish  to  her  West  India  islands  unless  some  reciprocal 
advantage  were  given  by  America,  the  merchants  had  but  to 
wait  a  bit ;  the  French  would  soon  find  out  that  their  colonies 
could  be  supplied  with  this  necessity  much  cheaper  from  Amer 
ican  fisheries  than  from  any  other  source,  and  the  restrictions 
would  speedily  be  removed.  Trade  was  a  thing  that  should  be 
left  to  take  care  of  itself. 

With  this  much -abused  maxim  on  their  lips,  the  non- 
imposters  looked  on  in  complacency  while  the  ships  of  their 
neighbors  were  excluded  from  the  Brazils,  from  the  East  Indies, 
from  the  West  Indies,  from  the  Dutch  colonies,  from  the  Eng 
lish  colonies,  from  the  Spanish  colonies,  and  from  the  Mediter 
ranean,  where,  behind  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  the  Barbary  cor 
sairs  were  believed  to  lie  in  wait  for  American  merchantmen. 
Foreigners  had  indeed  been  admitted  to  trade,  under  certain 
restrictions,  with  the  French  colonies.  But  the  merchants  of 
Marseilles,  of  Bordeaux,  of  Rochelle,  Nantes,  and  Saint-Malo, 
cried  out  that  they  were  ruined,  opposed  the  free  ports,  op 
posed  the  admission  of  lumber,  of  hemp,  and  tar,  and  besieged 
the  ministers  with  petitions  which  at  one  time  seemed  likely 
to  be  granted.  The  commerce  of  the  country  meanwhile  was 
entirely  at  the  mercy  of  these  powers.  Congress  was,  by  the 
Articles  of  Confederation,  fully  empowered  to  make  treaties 
of  commerce.  But  if  any  power  refused  to  enter  into  such 
a  treaty,  excluded  American  shipping  from  its  ports,  and  laid 


248      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  m. 

heavy  duties  on  every  kind  of  American  produce,  it  was  for 
the  individual  States,  and  not  Congress,  to  say  whether  the 
vessels  of  such  a  power  should  be  suffered  to  trade  free  at  the 
ports  of  the  United  States.  And  on  such  a  matter  as  this,  it 
was  often  urged,  every  man  of  sense  and  judgment  knew  the 
thirteen  States  never  could  be  made  to  think  alike.  It  was  folly 
to  suppose  that  if  South  Carolina  shut  up  her  ports  to  Spanish 
vessels  because  her  rice  and  her  indigo  were  excluded  from  the 
colonies  of  Spain,  New  Hampshire,  which  produced  no  rice 
and  indigo  but  whose  forests  of  stately  pines  furnished  masts 
and  spars  to  the  navy  of  the  Catholic  King,  would  immediately 
do  the  same.  Or  that  Virginia  should  refuse  to  suffer  Portu 
guese  ships  to  go  out  from  her  ports  loaded  with  hogsheads  of  to 
bacco  because  the  Lisbon  merchants  would  not  take  Nantucket 
oil  in  payment  for  pipes  of  Madeira  and  hogsheads  of  olives. 
If  things  really  came  to  such  a  pass  as  this,  and  each  State 
undertook  to  regulate  its  own  commerce,  the  upshot  would  be 
that  each  wrould  have  to  send  ministers  to  all  the  courts  and 
maintain  consuls  at  all  the  great  seaports  of  Europe.  'No  man 
in  his  wits  could  for  a  moment  entertain  the  idea  of  thirteen 
American  plenipotentiaries  meeting  in  the  antechamber  of 
every  foreign  King,  each  with  full  powers  and  distinct  instruc 
tions  from  home,  without  having  presented  to  him  such  a  pict 
ure  of  confusionj  of  altercation,  expense,  and  endless  delay  as 
would  show  him  the  utter  folly  of  the  thing.  There  was  in 
deed  an  alternative.  All  the  States  might  bestow  ministerial 
power  on  one  and  the  same  person.  But  this,  too,  could  not  be 
carried  out,  for  there  had  not  been,  was  not,  and  never  w^ould  be, 
a  man  to  whom  each  member  of  the  Confederation  would  in 
trust  its  affairs  of  trade.  They  were  far  too  jealous  of  each 
other.  Besides,  the  heterogeneous  mass  of  papers,  full  of  dif 
ferent  objects,  conflicting  views,  and  inconsistent  commands,  he 
would  pull  out  of  his  portfolio  every  time  he  wanted  to  know  if 
Rhode  Island  would  join  with  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut 
in  taking  tea  at  Cadiz  in  payment  of  staves  and  hemp,  or  if 
Pennsylvania  would  be  content  to  barter  ship-loads  of  grain 
for  jars  of  olive-oil,  must  make  such  a  scheme  useless.  Nor 
was  it  likely  that  any  gentleman  of  spirit  could  be  found  to 
consent  to  be  held  accountable  for  his  behavior  to  thirteen  mas- 


1785.  OBJECTIONS  TO   CONGRESS  REGULATING  TRADE.   249 

ters.*  There  was  then  but  one  way  out  of  the  trouble,  and 
that  was  to  give  over  the  whole  matter  to  the  care  of  Congress. 

But  this  remedy  was  pronounced  by  the  foes  of  the  meas 
ure  to  be  worse  than  the  disease.  If,  said  they,  sarcastically,  it 
"be  so  great  an  evil  to  the  country  to  be  unable  to  send,  year 
after  year,  thousands  of  joes,  moidores  and  carolins  abroad  in 
exchange  for  luxuries  that  make  women  of  men,  nourish  a  taste 
for  outrageous  extravagance,  and  put  an  end  to  home  manufac 
tures,  is  it  not  a  still  greater  evil  to  endow  Congress  with  author 
ity  that  will  render  its  yoke  more  uneasy  than  the  yoke  of  the 
British  King  ?  And  then  they  went  on  to  express  their  alarm 
for  the  safety  of  the  States  in  fables  and  in  figures  of  speech. 
One  non-content  gravely  warned  the  public  on  no  account  to 
pass  over  to  Congress  the  right  to  manage  trade.  That  body 
already  held  so  much  power  as  to  be  dangerous  to  the  liberties 
of  the  people.  But,  because  their  liberties  were  endangered, 
was  it  necessary  to  rush  on  to  destruction  ?  Was  it  sensible  to 
shut  the  barn-door  when  the  horse  had  gone?  It  was  true 
indeed  that  members  whose  conduct  was  displeasing  could  be 
put  out  and  other  men  put  in ;  but  the  body  was  Congress  all 
the  same.  Pluck  out  the  limbs  of  a  lobster  and  in  a  very  little 
while  new  ones  would  take  the  place  of  those  destroyed.  In 
deed,  every  one  of  the  new  claws  would  be  larger  and  stronger 
than  the  old  claw  it  replaced  and  would  hold  whatever  was 
given  to  it  with  increased  avidity.  The  difference  between  the 
British  lobster  and  the  American  lobster  was  just  this:  the 
one  was  all  of  a  color ;  the  other  was  a  streaked,  thirteen-tailed 
wretch,  seven  times  as  big  and  growing  bigger  and  fatter  every 
day.  It  was  really  laughable  to  talk  of  the  imbecility  of  Con 
gress.  Facts  were  stubborn  things.  Congressmen  rolled  in 
their  coaches,  built  Federal  towns,  voted  salaries,  and  gave 
away  pensions.  Was  this  imbecility  ?  f 

Another  malcontent  set  forth  the  foreign  relations  of  the 
country  in  an  effusion  which  to  our  ears  sounds  coarse  and 
vulgar.  Yet  it  richly  deserves  to  be  cited  in  evidence  of  the 
manners  of  the  time,  and  of  one  of  the  many  ways  in  which 
men  of  sense  were  then  accustomed  to  discuss  grave  ques 
tions  of  state.  Should  one,  said  the  writer  who  carefully 

*  Adams  to  Jay,  May  8,  1785.  f  New  Y°rk  Packet,  April  4,  1785. 


250      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  in. 

Lid  his  name',  travel  through  all  the  cities  of  Europe,  he 
could  not  find  a  coquette  so  expert  as  Miss  Columbia.  In 
1775  she  lived  at  the  expense  of  My  lord  who  kept  her  in 
deed  not  very  sumptuously.  She  therefore  soon  began  to 
traffic  in  her  charms  and  was  by  this  means  enabled  not  only 
to  provide  for  her  own  livelihood,  but  to  gratify  a  thousand 
wants  which  Mylord  fancied  to  have.  First  among  her  lov 
ers  was  Monsieur.  But  while  Monsieur  was  exhausting  his 
purse  to  please  her  she  was  eating  petits  soupers,  sometimes 
with  the  crooked-nosed  Don,  sometimes  with  the  Swedish  Gen 
tleman,  but  more  often  with  the  stanch  old  Cheese-monger. 
Monsieur,  in  consequence,  now  sustains  a  loss  by  Miss  Columbia 
of  some  eighty  thousand  pounds  sterling,  besides  another  sixty 
thousand  pounds  in  loans  and  moneys  for  which  he  went  secur 
ity.  Considering  that  all  this  has  been  spent  during  an  ac 
quaintance  of  six  years,  Monsieur  has  much  reason  to  be  out 
of  sorts.  As  to  the  three  sullen  lovers — the  Don,  the  Cheese 
monger,  and  the  Swede — they  have  seldom  been  farther  off 
than  large  promises ;  and  were  it  not  for  about  fifty-four  thou 
sand  pounds  advances  Mynheer  has  made,  the  poor  girl  would 
not  have  found  in  the  acquaintance  of  these  gentlemen  the 
expenses  of  her  toilet.  She  now  shows  the  greatest  coolness 
toward  them,  not  only  in  her  letters,  but  in  the  secret  connec 
tions  she  still  keeps  up  with  Mylord.  But  Mylord,  knowing 
how  to  appreciate  her,  stands  fast  and  laughs  at  her  Ladyship.* 
It  may  well  be  supposed  the  papers  that  came  out  in  the 
Packet  were  read,  bitter  and  coarse  as  they  were,  with  much 
interest  by  the  members  of  Congress  then  assembled  at  New 
York.  Indeed,  the  controversy  was  watched  with  anxiety 
everywhere.  Rarely  did  a  week  go  by  but  the  mails  carried 
out  bundles  of  the  papers  for  Washington  or  Madison.  Jay 
never  suffered  a  packet  to  sail  without  a  number  for  Adams 
and  Jefferson.  The  session  had  opened  early  in  January,  but 
it  was  not  till  the  month  was  well  spent  that  enough  members 
came  in  to  make  a  quorum.  One  of  the  first  measures  was  the 
election  of  a  Board  of  Treasury,  f  Gervais,  Livingston,  and 

*  New  York  Packet,  August  23,  1784.     This  style  of  treating  public  events 
was  very  common. 

|  January  25,  1785.     Journals  of  Congress. 


1785.  PLAN  FOR   A  FEDERAL  TOWN.  251 

Osgood  made  the  Board,  and  these  three  were  to  exercise  all  the 
functions  lately  possessed  by  the  Financier.  Two  days  later 
an  ordinance  was  passed  defining  the  duties  of  the  Secretary  of 
War,*  and  two  months  later  f  Henry  Knox  was  appointed  to 
the  place.  He  was  to  be  charged  with  regulating  the  military 
affairs  of  seven  hundred  men.  Some  minor  matters  then  occu 
pied  the  attention  of  the  House  till  the  eighth  of  February, 
when  the  clerk  announced  that  the  election  of  three  commis 
sioners  to  choose  a  site  for  a  Federal  town  had  been  made  the 
order  of  the  day 4 

The  plan  for  such  a  town  had  for  two  years  past  been 
many  times  under  discussion.  The  idea  had  naturally  been 
suggested  when,  in  the  early  summer  of  1783,  Congress  was 
driven  from  Philadelphia  by  the  mutiny  of  the  Lancaster  line. 
At  that  time  the  need  of  a  permanent  residence  was  severely 
felt,  and  the  claims  of  several  places  as  the  best  site  were  as 
serted.  But  it  was  not  till  October  that  a  resolution  passed 
directing  that  ground  be  chosen  and  buildings  put  up  on  the 
banks  of  the  Delaware  not  far  from  the  falls.  *  This,  how 
ever,  gave  much  offence  to  the  southern  delegates.  In  a 
matter  of  this  kind,  they  said,  with  truth,  the  convenience 
of  one  set  of  States  ought  not  to  be  sacrificed  to  that  of  an 
other  set ;  that  the  site  chosen  for  the  Federal  town  should 
be  central;  that  the  falls  of  the  Delaware  was  not  a  central 
spot,  and  the  selection  of  it  was  therefore  most  unjust  to 
them.  Two  days  later,  accordingly,  they  attempted  to  have 
the  matter  reconsidered,  but  failed.]  With  this  the  matter 
rested  for  a  few  days,  when  a  resolution  was  reached  that 
it  was  not  wise  to  have  a  single  place  of  residence,  and  order 
ing  that  buildings  should  also  be  put  up  on  the  lower  falls  of 
the  Potomac  not  far  from  Georgetown.  This  satisfied  the 
southern  delegates  and  nothing  more  was  heard  of  the  Fed 
eral  town  till  the  end  of  December,  1784:.A  The  whole  sub 
ject  was  then  reviewed,  the  plan  for  two  capitals  rescinded,  and, 
after  a  stout  fight  by  the  Virginia  representatives,  an  ordinance 
passed  ordering  commissioners  to  lay  out  a  Federal  town  on 

*  Journals,  January  27,  1785.  f  Ibid.,  March  8,  1785. 

t  Ibid.,  February  8,  1785.       *  Ibid.,  October  6,  1783.        ||  Ibid.,  October  8,  1783. 

A  Ibid.,  December  20,  21,  and  23,  1784. 


252      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TKADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  in. 

the  banks  of  the  Delaware  near  Lamberton.  On  the  motion 
of  Mr.  Hardy  to  strike  out  "  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware " 
and  put  in  "  at  Georgetown  on  the  Potomac,"  the  vote  stood : 
ayes,  one ;  nays,  eight. 

The  plan,  as  it  appeared  on  paper,  was  then  thought  to  be  a 
bold  and  magnificent  one.  The  commissioners  were  to  select  a 
tract  of  land  not  more  than  three  nor  less  than  two  miles  square 
on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware,  purchase  it,  and  there  lay  out  a 
Federal  city.  The  structures,  which  they  were  charged  to  erect 
in  an  elegant  manner,  were  a  house  for  Congress  and  suitable 
buildings  for  the  executive  departments.  Residences  were  also 
to  be  provided  for  the  president  and  secretary  of  Congress,  the 
secretaries  of  war,  of  foreign  affairs,  of  the  marine,  and  for  the 
officers  of  the  Treasury.  It  was  further  expected  that  each  State 
would  put  up  a  fine  house  as  a  home  for  its  delegates.  But 
to  pay  for  the  four  square  miles  of  land  and  for  the  erection  of 
the  necessary  buildings,  an  amount  was  put  aside  which  was,  it 
has  often  been  asserted,  ridiculously  small  even  for  that  time. 
The  commissioners  were  empowered  to  draw  upon  the  Board 
of  Treasury  for  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  a  sum  but  twice 
as  large  as  that  now  paid  each  year  to  the  President  as  salary ; 
which  would  not  now  suffice  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  Gov 
ernment  for  one  day,  and  which  falls  far  short  of  the  sums 
almost  every  month  paid  down  in  the  city  of  New  York  for 
single  building  lots,  twenty-five  thousand  of  which  would  not 
equal  the  smallest  area  of  land  the  commissioners  were  com 
manded  to  buy.  But  to  a  government  that  could  not  raise 
three  millions  of  dollars  a  year  the  sum  was  a  great  one. 
That  such  was  the  opinion  of  the  multitude  is  shown  by  the 
bitterness  with  which  the  scheme  was  assailed  in  pamphlets, 
and  by  the  assaults  which  were  made  on  Congress  in  the  pa 
pers.  That  Congress  was  serious  in  the  matter  is  plain  from  the 
exhibit  of  sectional  jealousy  which  the  debates  on  the  site  for 
the  town  never  failed  to  call  forth.  The  truth  is,  the  money 
appropriated  was  then  believed  to  be  not  only  a  sufficient  but  a 
liberal  allowance.  That  it  now  seems  so  contemptible  is  but 
the  natural  consequence  of  the  astonishing  advance  which  the 
nation  has,  since  the  time  of  the  Confederation,  made  in  opu 
lence  and  power.  Yet  it  is  hard  for  one  who  for  the  first  time 


1785.  THE  ELECTIONS   IN  NEW   YORK.  253 

climbs  to  the  dome  of  the  noble  Capitol,  and  looks  down  on 
the  stately  buildings  which  overhang  the  Potomac,  to  believe 
that  ninety-nine  years  ago  Congress  seriously  thought  of  pro 
viding  the  Government  with  offices  and  its  members  with 
homes,  for  a  sum  that  would  not  at  present  purchase  the  tenth 
part  of  an  ocean  steamship,  and  has  often  been  exceeded  by 
the  cost  of  a  half  mile  of  railroad.  On  the  tenth  of  the  month 
Philip  Schuyler,  Dickinson,  and  Morris  were  appointed  com 
missioners,  but  Schuyler  refusing  to  serve,  his  place  was  filled 
by  Brown. 

This  troublesome  matter  disposed  of,  the  course  of  parlia 
mentary  business  went  smoothly  on.  Little  of  much  conse 
quence  was  done  till  the  autumn  was  well  advanced.  In  March 
the  slave  question  was  again  brought  forward.  Rufus  King 
laid  before  the  House  a  proposition  to  exclude  slavery  from  the 
new  States  to  the  northwest  of  the  Ohio,  and  make  it  a  part  of 
the  Federal  compact.  A  warm  discussion  followed,  but  the 
proposition  was  finally  committed  by  a  vote  of  eight  States  to 
four. 

At  this  point  in  their  proceedings  the  attention  of  Congress 
was  much  occupied  by  the  excitement  of  the  approaching  elec 
tion  in  the  city.  Scarce  had  the  month  of  April  opened  when 
several  prominent  citizens  were  put  in  nomination  for  the  As 
sembly.  Such  things  as  organized  political  parties  did  not 
exist,  but  their  places  were  largely  supplied  by  the  two  great 
orders  of  society,  the  rich  and  the  poor.  It  is  true  that  many 
questions  of  a  national  and  local  nature  parted  men  in  their 
opinions ;  but  when  an  examination  is  made  it  will  be  found 
that  those  who  supported  the  one  side  were  the  rich,  and  those 
who  upheld  the  other  were  the  poor.  The  manner  of  making 
a  nomination  was  a  simple  one.  As  the  day  of  election  drew 
near,  a  number  of  gentlemen  would  meet  at  one  of  the  coffee 
houses,  discuss  the  situation,  and  select  one  of  their  number  to 
represent  them  in  the  Assembly.  His  name,  with  a  few  re 
marks  on  his  high  character  and  a  pledge  to  support  him,  would 
then  be  sent  to  the  Packet  and  Advertiser  for  publication. 
The  pledge  was  commonly  signed  by  a  long  list  of  merchants 
and  characters  of  note.  He  then  became  the  subject  of  abuse 
far  more  violent  and  shameless  than  in  our  time  is  poured  out 


254      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  m. 

even  on  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  and  many  things 
combined  to  make  the  spring  canvass  of  1Y85  more  exciting 
than  ever.  The  discussion  which  had  taken  place  on  the  im 
post  and  the  power  to  regulate  trade  had  caused  much  bitter 
ness  of  feeling.  The  presence  of  Congress  it  wTas  foolishly 
thought  would  be  felt,  and  that  every  member  of  the  House 
would  spare  no  pains  to  elect  men  who  would  firmly  support 
the  wishes  of  the  national  Legislature.  But  there  was  also  a 
question  of  a  local  nature  that  came  into  the  canvass.  Since 
the  election  of  1784  decision  had  been  given  in  the  famous 
case  of  Rutgers  against  "Waddington.  The  Mayor's  Court  had 
set  aside  a  law  of  the  Legislature.  That  the  act  had  been  set 
aside  because  it  was  an  unjust  and  iniquitous  one  was  impossible 
to  believe.  Every  one  knew  that  it  was  a  just  act  and  a  good 
one,  and  that  decision  had  been  given  directly  against  its  ex 
press  stipulations  because  a  rascally  lawyer  had  so  tricked  out 
the  wrong  as  to  make  it  appear  the  right.  The  whole  pro 
fession  was  as  a  consequence  denounced.  They  were  grow 
ing  rich  at  the  expense  of  poor  debtors  who  had  lost  all  in 
the  glorious  cause.  They  were  selling  themselves  to  the  To 
ries.  As  soon,  therefore,  as  it  was  known  that  some  attor 
neys  were  to  run  the  indignation  of  the  multitude  became 
great.  The  papers  were  filled  with  exhortations  written  in 
the  style  of  the  hangman,  beseeching  all  true  patriots  to  have 
a  care  how  they  voted.  Are  we  not,  said  one  of  these,  are 
we  not  convinced  by  this  time  that  we  have  among  us  a  set 
of  men  so  audacious  that  they  venture,  even  in  public,  to 
wrest,  turn,  twist,  and  explain  away  the  purport  and  meaning 
of  our  laws?  Beware  of  the  la\vyers!  These  men  are  the 
very  rulers  of  our  fate.  Call  to  mind  the  wormwood  and 
the  gall  Great  Britain  strove  to  force  clown  your  throats. 
Rise  !  Be  wise,  be  vigilant,  and  you  may  yet  escape  the  chains 
and  fetters  which  are  being  made  ready  for  you  by  a  set  of 
designing  men  who  wish  to  lord  it  over  you.  The  mechanics 
were  then  assured  that  aristocracies  were  the  bane  of  society. 
That  of  all  aristocracies  that  of  the  lawyers  was  the  worst,  and 
that  they  would  surely  be  set  against  the  Mechanics'  Incorpora 
tion  Bill.  The  bill  alluded  to  was  one  to  come  before  the  next 
Legislature,  by  which  the  mechanics  of  the  city  hoped  to  get 


1785.  BOSTON  RESOLUTIONS.  255 

leave  to  form  themselves  into  a  society  for  many  purposes 
which  they  held  praiseworthy.* 

In  the  midst  of  the  canvass  news  of  an  agreeable  nature 
came  from  Boston.  There  was  probably  no  State  in  the  Union 
which  at  that  time  suffered  so  severely  from  the  British  orders 
in  council  as  Massachusetts.  The  source  of  her  prosperity  had 
always  been  the  fisheries  and  the  carrying  trade.  Both  of 
these  were  taken  from  her.  One  order  had  forbidden  Ameri 
can  fish  of  any  kind  to  be  brought  by  vessels  sailing  under  any 
flag,  not  excepting  the  English,  into  the  ports  of  the  West 
Indies.  Another  had  placed  a  duty  of  eighteen  pounds  a  ton 
on  whale-oil.  A  third  had,  by  prohibiting  any  but  English 
bottoms  to  fetch  American  goods  to  English  ports,  all  but  de 
stroyed  her  once  lucrative  business  of  ocean  carrier.  While  to 
these  three  a  fourth  grievance  was  added,  the  merchants  com 
plained,  by  tlie  English  traders.  They  had,  it  was  said,  supposed 
that  if  they  could  no  longer  export  American  goods,  they 
could  at  least  freely  import  English  goods.  But  they  were 
mistaken.  Scarcely  had  the  ink  of  the  treaty  dried  when  the 
city  swarmed  with  factors  and  agents  of  the  English  merchants. 
These  undersold  every  importation  an  American  made,  and  in 
a  little  while  had  all  the  trade  in  their  hands. 

Like  complaints  came  from  Charleston.  When  the  evacua 
tion  took  place,  sensible  and  patriotic  men  supposed,  it  was 
said,  they  had  seen  the  last  of  the  British.  But  the  troops 
had  hardly  gone  when  the  Pumping  Club  and  the  Smoking 
Club  were  disputing  and  wrangling  about  letting  the  British 
come  back,  and  while  the  whole  city,  torn  by  these  two  factions, 
"  was  hot  in  the  debate,  the  English  settled  the  matter  by  sending 
out  a  standing  army  of  merchants,  factors,  clerks,  and  agents. 
They  came  in  shoals,  outmanoeuvred,  undersold,  bullied,  and 
drove  off  the  French  and  Dutch  merchants,  monopolized  the 
whole  trade  of  the  State,  speculated  on  the  wants  of  the  people, 
tempted  them  in  every  way  to  buy,  plunged  them  into  debt, 
and,  when  they  could  not  pay,  seized  their  lands  and  goods. 
Not  a  week  went  by  but  some  fine  estate  was  put  up  by  the 
sheriff  at  public  vendue  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  British  fac- 

*  See  the  New  York  Packets  for  the  mouth  of  April,  1785.  Boston  Gazette, 
April  18,  1785. 


256      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP,  m- 

tors.  England,  unable  to  conquer  America  with  an  army  of 
soldiers,  was  now  about  to  conquer  her  with  an  army  of  traders. 
So  great  a  number  of  young  clerks  had  poured  in  from  Great 
Britain  and  had  found  employment  in  the  stores  of  the  large 
towns,  that  the  sons  of  citizens  had  no  chance  to  be  brought  up 
to  trade  except  with  a  few  old  merchants.  Let  the  policy 
continue,  and  Britain  would  soon  have  the  South  Carolina  trade 
in  her  own  hands,  for  the  citizens  would  not  know  anything 
about  trade.  Was  this  wise  ?  * 

The  answer  came  from  Boston.  The  matter  was  there 
felt  to  be  too  serious  to  be  muttered  about  and  silently  en 
dured.  Nothing  but  vigorous  measures  could  remedy  such 
evils,  and  these  were  soon  on  foot.  On  the  fifteenth  of  April 
the  merchants  of  Boston  held  a  meeting  at  the  long  room  at 
Colonel  Marston's.  f  The  trouble  was  discussed,  and  a  num 
ber  of  remedies,  some  of  an  extreme  kind,  proposed.  They 
determined,  however,  that  the  best  plan  was  to  prepare  two 
petitions,  and  instructed  a  committee  to  draft  them.  One 
was  addressed  to  Congress  and  set  forth  the  embarrassments 
under  which  trade  was  laboring.  The  other  was  to  the  home 
Legislature  imploring  it  to  call  the  attention  of  the  delegates 
in  Congress  to  the  importance  of  speedy  action.  They  next 
established  what  they  called  a  Committee  of  Correspondence. 
The  duty  imposed  on  these  gentlemen  was  to  write  to  the  mer 
chants  of  every  seaport  in  the  States  and  induce  them,  if  pos 
sible,  to  take  a  like  action.  They  ended  by  pledging  themselves 
to  make  no  more  purchases  of  goods  from  the  British  mer 
chants  and  factors  then  in  Boston.  As  these  had  lately  made 
heavy  importations,  this  resolution,  it  was  believed,  would  be 
severely  felt.  On  the  third  of  May  the  mechanics  and  arti 
sans  met  in  the  famous  Green  Dragon  Tavern,  came  to  a  like 
conclusion,  and  adopted  similar  resolutions.  J 

When  these  proceedings  became  known  the  supporters  of 
Congress  were  much  elated.  They  expressed  much  pleasure 
at  seeing  Massachusetts  come  into  line.  It  was  pleasant  to 

*  See  a  pamphlet  entitled,  A  Few  Salutary  Hints  pointing  out  the  Policy  and 
Consequences  of  admitting  British  Subjects  to  engross  our  Trade  and  become  our 
Citizens.  Charleston,  S.  C.,  1786,  p.  10. 

f  Grayson  to  Madison,  May  1,  1785.  \  Boston  Gazette,  May  9,  1785. 


1785.  BOWDOIN'S  ADDRESS.  257 

know  that  in  at  least  one  city  of  the  Union  the  merchants  were 
fully  awake  to  their  own  interests,  and  had  the  courage  to 
come  to  such  strong  resolutions.  There  was  now  some  pros 
pect  of  retaliation,  if  the  merchants  of  the  other  great  towns 
would  but  follow  the  lead  and  listen  to  the  urgent  appeal  of 
their  brothers  at  Boston.  The  smiter  might  yet  in  turn  be 
smitten,  in  spite  of  the  halting  conduct  of  those  faint-hearted 
ones  who,  alarmed  by  the  insidious  suggestions  of  the  Tories, 
delayed  giving  to  Congress  power  to  put  upon  Great  Britain 
the  same  restrictions  she  had  put  upon  America.  Indeed, 
when  they  came  to  read  the  comments  made  by  the  London 
papers  on  the  action  of  the  Boston  merchants,  they  flattered 
themselves  that  the  sting  was  felt  already.  How  just  the  be 
lief  was  is  shown  by  the  accounts  which  Adams,  in  a  casual 
way,  sent  home  to  Jay.  He  had,  he  wrote  on  one  occasion, 
been  honored  with  a  call  from  a  noble  lord  who,  in  the  course 
of  conversation,  took  pains  to  reflect  in  strong  terms  on  the 
Boston  proceedings,  and  had  expressed  his  fear  that  they  would 
obstruct  the  return  of  friendship,  and  prove  a  bar  to  what 
every  one  should  wish  to  see,  a  good  treaty  of  commerce.* 
He  was  told  that  the  resolutions  were  introduced  by  the  words, 
"  Whereas  there  is  no  treaty  of  commerce,"  and  that  there  could 
be  no  doubt  but  that,  as  soon  as  a  good  treaty  was  made,  the 
merchants  would  give  them  the  go-by.  He  merely  answered 
that  he  was  sorry  they  had  ever  been  passed.  On  another  oc 
casion,  when  Adams  had  an  audience  of  Carmarthen,  his  Lord 
ship  mentioned  that  he  had  seen  in  the  Gazette  some  account  of 
the  Boston  resolutions,  and  went  so  far  as  to  say  he  was  very 
sorry  to  hear  of  them.  But  Adams  thought  they  had,  with 
other  matters,  contributed  very  much  toward  enabling  Mr. 
Pitt  to  lind  time  to  listen  to  his  demands,  f 

However  this  may  have  been  it  is  certain  that  the  report 
of  the  proceedings  had  scarce  reached  London  before  their 
effect  became  apparent  in  New  England.  Bowdoin  took  them 
into  serious  consideration  and  on  the  last  day  of  May  addressed 
the  Massachusetts  Legislature  on  the  subject.  They  must,  he 
said,  be  aware  that  the  state  of  foreign  trade  gave  general  un 
easiness.  There  was  an  extravagant  use  of  imported  articles. 

*  Adams  to  Jay,  June  17,  1785.        f  Ibid.,  June  26,  1785. 
VOL.  i. — 18 


258      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  in. 

This  drew  away  great  sums  of  money,  and,  as  the  old-time  re 
mittances  were  refused,  caused  heavy  balances  against  the 
country.  England  undoubtedly  had  a  perfect  right  to  man 
age  her  own  trade  as  she  saw  fit ;  and  in  this  management  she 
was  to  be  guided  solely  by  her  own  interest  and  her  own  sense 
of  it.  The  United  States,  too,  possessed  this  same  right.  But, 
unhappily,  the  power  to  exercise  it  was  wanting,  for  many 
States  still  refused  to  grant  the  necessary  permission.  This 
might  possibly  be  the  result  of  a  caution  to  reserve  to  the  States 
all  powers  not  necessary  to  be  delegated  to  Congress.  But 
surely  a  bitter  experience  had  shown  that  it  was  necessary  to 
bestow  on  Congress  control  of  trade  which  could  on  the  same 
principle  of  caution  be  limited  to  a  certain  time.  He  then 
suggested  that  the  States  should  appoint  delegates  to  meet  and 
settle,  once  for  all,  precisely  what  power  it  would  be  safe  to 
make  over  to  Congress  for  the  regulation  of  commerce.* 

The  address  was  duly  considered.  The  suggestion  was  well 
received,  and,  after  some  debate,  the  General  Court  gave  it  as 
their  opinion  that  the  powers  Congress  then  enjoyed  were  not 
adequate  to  the  great  purposes  they  were  designed  to  effect. 
A  resolution  then  passed,  with  small  opposition,  that  it  would 
be  expedient  to  have  a  convention  of  delegates  from  every 
State  in  the  Union  meet  at  some  convenient  place  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  revising  the  Articles  of  Confederation.  The  Gov 
ernor  was  also  instructed  to  write  to  the  executives  of  the 
twelve  States,  urging  them  to  recommend  the  passage  of  laws 
likely  to  hinder  the  contracted  and  monopolizing  policy  of 
Great  Britain,  and  to  send  on  a  copy  of  the  resolutions  to  Con- 
gress.f  Gerry,  Holten,  and  Rufus  King  were  the  three  Massa 
chusetts  delegates  at  Xew  York.  They  received  the  letter  of 
Bowdoin  and  the  resolution  early  in  July,  and  flatly  refused  to 
lay  any  such  documents  before  Congress.  But  the  first  of  Sep 
tember  was  come  before  they  assigned  any  reasons  for  their 

*  Governor  Bowdoin's  Message  to  the  Legislature,  May  31,  1785. 

f  July  1,  1785.  The  act  is  given  in  full  in  Pennsylvania  Packet,  July  18, 
1785.  When  the  news  of  the  Boston  meeting  reached  Philadelphia,  a  similar 
meeting  was  held  in  that  city,  and  resolutions  sent  to  the  Legislature.  For  the 
action  of  the  Legislature,  see  Pennsylvania  Packet,  September  22, 1785.  For  New 
Hampshire  resolutions,  Pennsylvania  Packet,  July  20, 1785.  Annual  Register,  vol. 
xxvii,  p.  856. 


1785.  THE   MASSACHUSETTS  RESOLUTIONS.  259 

conduct.  The  members  of  that  body  were,  it  seems,  entirely 
unprepared  for  any  such  course.  Their  policy  was  a  time-serv 
ing  policy.  They  had  no  wish  to  see  a  single  Article  of  the 
Confederation  revised,  or  a  single  line  of  one  of  them  altered, 
though  it  were  to  give,  for  all  time,  the  very  power  they  were 
so  earnestly  begging  for  a  little  time.  They  were  well  pleased 
if  they  could,  after  much  begging,  pleading,  and  threatening, 
obtain  for  a  short  time  such  small  loans  of  power  from  the 
States  as  would  enable  them  to  tide  over  present  ills,  and  were 
much  disposed  to  let  the  future  take  care  of  itself.  They  looked, 
too,  with  alarm  on  what  was  called  the  growing  taste  for  an 
aristocracy.  Indeed,  it  was  the  fear  of  this  more  than  anything 
else  that  moved  the  Massachusetts  delegates  to  take  the  course 
they  did.  They  were  apprehensive,  so  they  wrote  to  Bowdoin, 
and  believed  it  to  be  a  duty  to  declare  it,  that  such  a  measure 
could  have  but  one  result.  *  The  moment  the  call  for  the  con 
vention  went  out  there  would  be  from  one  end  of  the  Union  to 
the  other  a  great  exertion  on  the  part  of  the  friends  of  aristoc 
racy  to  send  members  who  would,  by  every  means  in  their 
power,  strive  to  bring  about  a  change  of  government.  In  place 
of  discovering  and  amending  the  defects  of  the  Confederation, 
the  whole  system  would  surely  be  condemned,  a  new  plan  re 
ported,  and  of  what  the  character  of  that  plan  was  likely  to  be 
they  could,  they  thought,  form  a  very  correct  judgment.  But 
should  the  members  be  all  of  them  ardent  republicans,  matters 
would  not  be  bettered.  For  such  had  been  the  clamors  of  de 
signing  men  against  the  Confederation,  against  the  rotation  of 
members,  which  was  after  all  the  best  check  to  corruption,  and 
against  the  present  way  of  altering  the  articles  by  the  unanimous 
consent  of  the  Legislatures,  that  there  seemed  great  danger  that 
a  report  would  be  brought  in  bestowing  on  Congress  powers 
the  States  had  not  the  most  distant  intentions  of  giving  up;. 
These  reasons  were  held  to  be  good,  and  the  Legislature  soon 
after  repealed  the  resolution.  This  happened  in  October,  five 
months  after  the  occurrence  of  an  event  which  many  predicted 
marked  the  beginning  of  a  prosperous  trade  in  the  far  East. 

On  Washington's  birthday,  1784,  as  some  enthusiastic  ones 
were  careful  to  observe,  the  ship  Empress  sailed  from  New 


*  Boston  Magazine  for  1785,  p.  475. 


260      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  OHAP.  m. 

York  for  Canton,  and  had,  after  a  voyage  of  fifteen  months, 
again  passed  through  the  Narrows  on  the  eleventh  of  May, 
1785.  A  few  days  later  Samuel  Shaw,  the  supercargo,  drew 
up  a  brief  report  of  the  voyage  and  sent  it  to  Robert  Morris. 
Morris  forwarded  it  to  Jay,  and  Jay  in  turn  made  haste  to 
lay  it  before  Congress,  where  it  was  read  with  much  interest. 
It  is  curious  to  observe  how  little  the  two  countries,  soon  to 
be  so  intimately  connected,  were  then  known  to  each  other. 
Not  one,  perhaps,  in  a  million  of  the  polished  and  enlightened 
race  that  dwelt  behind  the  wall  of  China  had  ever  so  much 
as  heard  the  name  of  the  little  horde  of  barbarians  with  whose 
grandchildren  their  descendants  would  be  proud  to  form 
treaties  and  to  hold  intercourse,  whose  civilization  was  to  im 
prove  their  civilization,  and  to  whose  land  Chinamen  would  one 
day  come  by  tens  of  thousands.  To  the  most  intelligent  Ameri 
cans  China  was  still  a  fairy-land.  The  English,  the  French,  the 
Portuguese  and  the  Dutch  had  indeed  been  graciously  per 
mitted  to  send  consuls  to  the  few  open  ports,  and  ships  bear 
ing  the  flags  of  these  nations  were  constantly  to  be  seen  sailing 
round  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  laden  with  boxes  of  tea  and 
bales  of  silk.  But  as  yet  none  of  the  merchants  had  been 
allowed  to  go  back  into  the  country,  or  to  set  foot  outside  of 
the  prescribed  quarters  of  the  free  towns.  Of  the  interior  of 
China,  therefore,  nothing  more  was  known  than  could  be  de 
rived  from  the  narratives  of  the  Jesuits,  and  this  knowledge 
was  very  scanty  and  very  crude.  Men  of  enlightened  under 
standings  fully  believed  that  between  the  wall  and  the  sea  lay  a 
rich  and  fertile  country,  teeming  with  vegetation,  looking  like 
a  garden,  and  swarming  with  many  hundreds,  nay,  as  some 
said,  thousands  of  millions  of  men.  And  of  these  millions 
nothing  more  was  known  than  that  their  skins  were  tawny, 
their  eyes  askew,  that  they  wore  paper  clothes  and  wooden 
shoes,  that  they  beat  their  wives,  that  they  lived  in  queer- 
shaped  houses  of  many  colors,  drank  tea  as  an  American  drank 
water,  and  carried  bundles  tied  to  the  ends  of  long  sticks  slung 
over  their  shoulders.  There  were  probably,  with  the  exception 
of  the  little  crew  of  the  Empress,  not  ten  men  in  the  United 
States  who  had  ever  in  the  course  of  their  lives  so  much  as  seen 
a  Chinaman, 


1785.  VOYAGE   OF  THE   SHIP  EMPRESS.  261 

But  to  the  stock  of  information  already  possessed  on  these 
points  the  report  of  the  supercargo  contributed  nothing.  It 
was  of  little  value  to  any  but  merchants  and  men  immediately 
concerned  in  trade,  and  was  by  them  pronounced  to  be  most 
interesting  and  important.  It  appears  from  the  letter  of  Shaw 
that  from  the  time  the  vessel  stood  out  to  sea  nothing  unusual 
happened  till  she  entered  the  Straits  of  Sunda,  where  she  fell 
in  with  two  French  ships  of  war.  Salutes  and  compliments 
were  exchanged,  and,  when  the  Frenchmen  came  on  board,  the 
captain  learned  to  his  delight  that  the  frigates  were,  like  his 
own  ship,  bound  for  Canton.  The  visitors  pronounced  them 
selves  equally  pleased.  The  admiral  hastened  to  make  known 
his  signals  to  the  Americans,  furnished  them  with  much  useful 
information  on  the  navigation  of  the  eastern  seas  in  case  the 
vessels  should  become  parted  by  storms,  and  set  out  in  com 
pany  with  the  Empress.  The  first  stop  was  at  Macao.  There 
the  French  consul  came  on  board  with  congratulations  and  pro 
fuse  offers  of  help.  He  would  be  delighted,  he  would  be 
ravished,  to  be  of  any  aid  to  the  good  allies  of  his  illustrious 
master,  and  begged  for  the  honor  of  taking  them  ashore  and 
introducing  them  to  the  Portuguese  consul.  The  captain  and 
the  supercargo  went,  and  were  treated  with  marked  civility. 
From  Macao  they  sailed  on  without  hindrance  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Canton  river.  There  a  mandarin  graciously  suffered  the 
barbarians  to  go  up  the  river  and  drop  anchor  opposite  the  city 
of  Canton. 

But  ere  the  sails  were  furled  the  precaution  was  taken  to 
salute  the  shipping  with  a  discharge  of  thirteen  guns.  The 
salute  was  quickly  answered,  and  soon  an  officer  from  each  ves 
sel  came  on  board.  Xot,  however,  till  the  twenty-ninth  of 
August  did  the  Chinese  dignitaries  consent  to  be  rowed  out  to 
the  Empress.  They  called  the  Americans  the  new  people,  in 
spected  the  ship  with  great  interest,  and  when  a  map  of  the 
United  States  was  spread  out  on  the  cabin-table,  expressed  sur 
prise  at  the  extent  of  the  country,  asked  about  its  products,  and 
seemed  much  pleased  at  the  prospect  of  so  fine  a  market  for 
silks  and  tea. 

These  amicable  relations  were  for  a  time  interrupted.  A 
party  of  Chinese  merchants  visited  an  English  man-of-war  lying 


262      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  in. 

in  the  river.  As  they  were  going  home  a  salute  was  fired  in 
their  honor.  But  one  of  the  gunners  directed  his  piece  so  care 
lessly  as  to  kill  a  Chinaman  outright  and  wound  another.  The 
law  hi  the  Celestial  Empire  was  blood  for  blood.  A  demand 
was  accordingly  instantly  made  on  the  English  commander  to 
give  up  the  murderer.  This  he  stoutly  refused  to  do,  and  sent 
an  assurance  that  the  unhappy  event  was  just  such  a  one  as 
often  came  of  the  use  of  gunpowder.  But  the  Canton  authori 
ties  could  see  no  difference  between  a  death  caused  by  accident 
and  a  death  brought  about  by  wilful  means,  and  in  great  anger 
drove  all  foreigners  out  of  the  city,  shut  the  gates,  and  confined 
them  to  a  small  district  without  the  walls.  The  Governor  be 
gan  to  gather  troops.  The  English  in  alarm  begged  all  foreign 
ers  to  stand  by  them,  and  for  a  while  matters  wore  a  serious 
look.  Care  was  taken  meanwhile  to  do  nothing  that  could  give 
the  least  offence,  and  soon  an  invitation  came  from  the  Canton 
rulers  to  the  master  of  each  ship,  except  the  English,  to  send 
an  officer  to  a  conference.  This  was  done.  The  conference 
was  held,  the  trouble  talked  over,  and  on  the  solemn  assurance 
of  the  Chinese  that  the  gunner  should  be  fairly  tried,  and  if 
found  guiltless  set  free,  the  allies  promised  to  urge  the  English 
to  give  him  up.  The  arbitrators  were  thereupon  thanked  for 
their  services,  and  dismissed  with  a  gift  of  two  pieces  of  pongee 
silk  each.  The  supercargo  on  that  day  represented  the  Ameri 
cans.  The  two  rolls  he  received  were  forwarded  to  Congress 
with  the  letter,  and  examined  with  much  interest. 

As  soon  as  the  letter  of  Shaw  had  been  read,  Congress  ex 
pressed  its  high  sense  of  the  importance  of  the  voyage,  thanked 
the  supercargo  for  the  public  spirit  he  manifested  in  so  promptly 
making  known  the  result  of  his  trip,  and  sent  him  back  his  rolls 
of  silk.* 

Toward  the  close  of  May,  the  western  lands  being  again 
under  discussion,  a  resolution  was  carried  urging  North  Caro 
lina  to  reconsider  her  act  of  the  previous  November,  and  once 
more  cede  to  Congress  her  possessions  beyond  the  mountains.f 
Had  the  request  been  granted,  there  can  be  no  doubt  the 

*  Diplomatic  Correspondence  of  the  Revolution.     Journals  of  Congress,  May, 
1785      American  Museum,  March,  1787. 
f  Journals,  May  23,  1785. 


1785.  THE   STATE   OF  FRANKLIN.  263 

measure  would  have  speedily  brought  peace  and  quiet  to  that 
distracted  region.  But  North  Carolina  was  too  intent  on  bring 
ing  her  rebellious  subjects  to  terms  to  think  for  a  moment  of 
bestowing  them  with  their  lands  and  goods  on  Congress. 

Indeed,  when  the  news  of  the  request  was  carried  into  the 
district  some  months  later,  the  malcontents  expressed  much 
surprise.  They  could  not,  they  said,  understand  why  Congress 
should  apply  to  North  Carolina  ;  North  Carolina  had  nothing 
to  do  with  them.  The  parent  State  had,  by  her  act  of  1784, 
given  them  away.  Congress  did  not  take  them  under  its  pro 
tection.  They  belonged,  therefore,  to  nobody,  and  while  in 
this  condition  had  called  a  convention,  Lad  framed  a  constitu 
tion,  had  formed  a  new  State,  had  chosen  for  it  a  name,  and 
elected  a  Legislature  which  was  actually  in  session  at  the  time 
the  act  of  the  twenty-third  of  May  was  passed.  The  request 
was  simply  absurd.  Congress  was  treating  them  as  if  they 
were  rebels.  That  was  a  great  piece  of  injustice.  They  had 
never  thrown  off  their  allegiance  to  North  Carolina.  North 
Carolina  had  thrown  it  off  for  them.  They  were  now  a  free 
State,  and  all  Congress  had  to  do  was  to  say  whether  they 
should  come  into  the  Union  or  stay  out  of  the  Union.  Much 
of  what  they  stated  was  strictly  true.  The  delegates  to  the 
second  convention  had  assembled  early  in  1785.  These  had 
given  the  State  the  name  of  Franklin,*  and  had  drawn  up  a 
constitution  which  they  submitted  to  the  people.  It  was  ex 
pected  that  the  men  of  the  district  would  consider  it  carefully, 
and  select  delegates  to  a  third  convention,  which  should  have 
full  power  to  ratify  or  reject.  The  place  fixed  upon  for  the 
meeting  of  the  convention  was  Greenville.  But  as  there  was 
then  no  printing-press  nearer  than  Charleston  or  Richmond,  and 
as  much  time  must  elapse  before  the  constitution  could  become 
known  to  all,  the  delegates  were  not  to  convene  till  the  four- 

O 

teenth  of  November. 

Meanwhile  the  Legislature  was  to  organize.    Elections  were 


*  The  name  of  the  State  has  often  been  asserted  to  be  Frankland,  the  land  of 
the  Franks  or  Freemen  (Albach's  Western  Annals,  pp.  507,  509).  But  letters 
are  extant  from  high  officials  of  the  State  to  Benjamin  Franklin  declaring  that  it 
was  named  after  him.  See  letter  of  William  Cocke  to  Franklin,  June  15,  1786. 
Franklin  to  Cocke,  August  12,  1786.  Sevier  to  Franklin,  April  9,  1787. 


264:      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  OHAP.  in. 

held  without  delay  ;  members  were  chosen  after  the  manner  in 
which  the  settlers  had  long  been  accustomed  to  elect  representa 
tives  to  the  Assembly  of  the  parent  State,  and  these,  meeting  at 
Jonesboro,  conducted  their  business  with  so  much  dispatch  that 
on  the  last  day  of  March  they  adjourned.  Many  acts  were 
passed  by  them.  But  one  alone  excited  general  comment,  and 
.was  the  cause  of  unbounded  merriment  across  the  mountains. 
A  list  of  articles  at  that  time  scarce  to  be  met  with  in  the 
State  of  Franklin  would  be  a  long  one.  But  there  would  be 
no  article  in  the  list  less  plentiful  than  money.  A  few  Spanish 
milled  dollars  that  had  come  up  from  Natchez,  some  bad  cop 
pers,  some  sous  which  had  been  gilded  over  to  look  like  moi- 
dores,  and  dirty  fragments  of  Carolina  paper  currency,  were,  it 
is  true,  to  be  found  there  as  everywhere.  Yet  even  this  made 
up  so  small  a  sum  that  the  settlers  on  the  Watauga  and  the 
Holston  had  from  the  earliest  times  resorted  to  barter.  Some 
one  could  always  be  found  who  would  take  a  raccoon-skin  for  a 
pound  of  sugar,  or  would  exchange  a  gallon  of  good  peach- 
brandy  for  a  yard  of  flax  linen.  When,  therefore,  the  Legisla 
ture  came  to  determine  what  should  be  the  legal  currency  of 
the  State,  it  most  wisely  contented  itself  with  fixing  the  value 
of  such  articles  as  had,  from  time  immemorial,  been  used  as 
money.  One  pound  of  sugar,  the  law  said,  should  pass  for  a 
shilling-piece ;  the  skin  of  a  raccoon  or  a  fox  for  a  shilling  and 
threepence.  A  gallon  of  rye  whiskey,  it  was  thought,  was 
worth  twice  that  sum,  while  a  gallon  of  peach-brandy  or  a  yard 
of  good  nine  hundred  flax  linen  was  each  to  pass  for  a  three-shil 
ling  piece.  Some  difficulty  was  met  with  in  selecting  articles 
that  could  be  easily  carried  from  place  to  place  and  expressive 
of  large  values.  It  was,  however,  finally  determined  that  a 
clean  beaver-skin,  an  otter-  or  a  deer-skin,  should  each  of  them 
be  the  representative  of  six  shillings.  In  this  kind  of  money, 
the  law  further  prescribed,  the  salary  of  every  officer  of  the 
State,  from  the  Governor  down  to  the  hangman,  was  to  be  paid.* 
When  this  act  became  known  in  the  East  the  wits  were 
greatly  amused.  Franklin,  they  said,  was  a  happy  State,  for 
it  had  a  currency  which  need  not  be  locked  up  in  secret  draw 
ers,  which  stood  in  no  danger  of  being  sent  abroad  by  the  mer- 

*  The  acts  are  given  in  Ramsey's  History  of  Tennessee. 


1T85.  THE   STATE   OF  FRANKLIN.  265 

chant,  and  which  could  not  be  counterfeited.  There  was  a  land 
where  debtors  would  be  unknown,  and  where  lawyers  might 
starve.  For  the  moment  a  man  was  out  of  money,  instead  of 
applying  to  the  Legislature  to  loan  him  some  on  his  lands,  he 
had  merely  to  shoulder  his  gun,  throw  his  traps  across  his  back, 
go  off  to  the  forests,  and  there,. far  away  from  sheriffs  and  jails, 
trap  beaver  and  track  deer  till  he  had  accumulated  enough 
money  to  pay  his  way  for  months  to  come.  Others  expressed 
a  hope  that  the  judges  would  be  paid  in  skins  of  the  mink. 
But  in  the  belief  that  the  new  money  could  not  be  counter 
feited  they  were  much  mistaken.  Many  bundles  of  what 
seemed  to  be  otter-skins  were  soon  passing  about,  which,  on 
being  opened,  were  found  to  be  skins  of  raccoons  with  tails  of 
otters  sewed  to  them.  Those  who  laughed  at  the  currency  of 
Franklin  would  have  done  well  to  remember  that  old  men  still 
crept  about  among  them  who  could  distinctly  recall  the  time 
when,  in  North  Carolina,  they  had  themselves  paid  quit-rents 
and  debts  in  furs,  in  hides,  in  tallow,  indeed,  in  every  kind  of 
thing  that  was  marketable  and  easy  to  carry  about.* 

The  same  day  on  which  Congress  begged  North  Carolina  to 
give  up  her  western  lands  a  new  slur  was  cast  upon  the  dignity 
of  that  body  by  Massachusetts.  The  three  gentlemen  who 
represented  her  moved  to  bring  in  a  resolution  they  had  lately 
received  from  home.  This  resolution  set  it  forth  as  the  sense 
of  the  Legislature  that  the  United  States  Government  was  well 
formed.  But  whatever  marks  of  wisdom  and  of  skill  might 
appear  on  the  face  of  the  system,  it  could  not  be  expected  that 
every  kind  of  corruption  ambition  or  avarice  might  seek  to 
introduce  for  the  ruin  of  the  Confederation  had  been  guarded 
against.  It  became  the  United  States,  therefore,  in  the  early 
years  of  its  life,  to  form  such  principles  as  would  tend  to 
hinder  designing  men  in  future  ages  from  sapping  the  roots 
of  the  Union.  The  world  admired  the  prudence  and  wisdom 
which,  by  providing  for  a  rotation  of  members  in  Congress, 
fixed  a  barrier  against  corruption.  But  the  Legislature  of 
Massachusetts  saw  with  concern  that  no  provision  had  been 

*  These  distressed  times  occurred  in  1722,  and  again  in  1738,  when  farm  pro 
duce  was  made  a  legal  tender.  See,  for  other  instances,  Ramsey's  History  of 
Tennessee,  p.  298. 


266      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  m. 

made  to  prevent  members  of  Congress  appointing  themselves 
to  office.  No  very  great  share  of  sagacity  was  needed  to  foresee 
that  unless  this  point  was  timely  guarded  the  lucrative  places 
in  the  Federal  Government  would  become  filled  by  men  who 
would  not  be  the  most  capable  of  serving  the  people,  or  the 
most  remarkable  for  integrity,  and  that  some  men,  forsaking 
the  good  of  the  country,  would  take  corrupt  means  to  become 
members  of  Congress,  that  they  might  appoint  themselves  to 
well-paid  posts.  When  the  reading  of  the  resolution  was  end 
ed  its  commitment  was  moved  and  carried  without  a  dissent 
ing  voice. 

Meanwhile,  the  friends  of  government,  nursing  no  such 
fears,  were  earnestly  striving  to  create  new  offices.  Everywhere 
the  need  of  an  impost  and  a  vigorous  management  of  trade 
was  the  absorbing  topic  of  conversation.  Many  plans  were 
proposed,  many  remedies  suggested,  discussed,  and  abandoned, 
till  early  in  March  a  memorial,  addressed  to  the  State  Legis 
lature  then  in  session,  was  actively  circulated  through  the  cof 
fee-houses  and  taverns  for  signature.  Some  names  of  men  well 
known  in  all  occupations  and  professions  were  put  down,  but 
the  merchants,  as  was  to  be  expected,  were  far  the  more  numer 
ous.  The  subscribers  set  forth  that  they  highly  approved  of  the 
impost.  They  advanced,  indeed,  no  new  argument  in  its  behalf, 
but  contented  themselves  with  a  plain  statement  of  such  rea 
sons  as  might  any  day  have  been  heard  in  conversation  between 
merchants  on  the  street.  They  believed  it  was  now  admitted 
by  all  men  of  sense  to  be  a  principle  in  finance,  as  incontro 
vertible  as  any  of  the  axioms  of.  geometry,  that  a  revenue  raised 
in  a  State  by  an  impost  of  the  nature  proposed  by  Congress 
was  less  felt,  and  therefore  more  cheerfully  paid,  than  a  reve 
nue  collected  by  any  other  means  known  to  tax-gatherers.  The 
great  objections  to  a  duty  were  that  it  acted  as  a  check  to  com 
merce  and  as  a  bounty  to  smuggling.  To  neither  of  these  was 
the  impost  open.  The  duty  of  five  per  centum  was  not  high 
enough  to  stop  importation.  The  gains  to  be  had  by  avoiding 
it  were  not  great  enough  to  pay  for  the  risks  of  smuggling. 
As  for  the  idea  of  a  misuse  of  the  money  that  would  flow  into 
the  Treasury,  it  was  not  to  be  thought  of  for  a  moment.  The 
past  behavior  of  Congress  forbade  it.  Nor  was  it  easy  to  be* 


1785.    SIDNEY  PUBLISHES  A  REPLY  TO  THE  MEMORIAL.  267 

lieve  that  men  who  were  chosen  from  the  body  of  the  people, 
who  enjoyed  but  a  temporary  power,  and  who  were  in  a  little 
while  to  step  down  from  their  high  places  and  mingle  once 
more  with  the  people,  would  attempt  any  very  daring  scheme 
of  fraud.  The  propo&al  to  grant  to  Congress  for  fifteen  years 
sole  power  to  regulate  commercial  matters  was  also  warmly 
recommended.  The  Legislature  was  reminded  that  the  Con 
federation  was  composed  of  thirteen  independent  republics; 
that  each  one  of  the  thirteen  was  individually  more  or  less 
commercial ;  that  the  whole  collectively  had,  in  times  gone  by, 
made  no  bad  figure  in  the  trading  world,  and  would  most  as 
suredly  make  a  still  better  figure  in  times  to  come.  It  were 
well,  therefore,  if  certain  general  principles  of  trade  were  at 
once  laid  down  and  steadily  followed  out.  But  how  could 
they  be  carried  out  unless  the  direction  of  commercial  affairs 
was  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  body  of  men  whose  laws  each  one 
of  the  States  was  in  duty  bound  to  obey  ?  "With  what  body 
could  such  power  be  so  safely  lodged  as  with  that  which  had, 
ever  since  the  United  States  began  to  exist,  been  in  charge  of 
the  general  welfare  of  the  people  ?  * 

But,  while  the  memorial  was  still  passing  from  coffee-house 
to  coffee-house,  and  was  still  being  eagerly  signed,  a  reply  to  it 
came  out  in  the  Packet  under  the  signature  of  Sidney.  In  this 
paper  all  the  points  advanced  in  the  memorial  were,  one  after, 
the  other,  taken  up,  and,  in  the  opinion  of  the  writer,  refuted. 
The  recommendation  of  Congress,  he  went  on  to  say,  was  to 
levy  an  impost  to  fund  the  national  debt.  Every  one  who  had 
read  Dr.  Price  or  Monsieur  Necker  knew  what  funding  meant. 
Funding  had  been  the  ruin  of  England.  What,  then,  was  to 
prevent  the  United  States,  if  she  followed  in  the  steps  of  Eng 
land,  from  meeting  the  fate  of  England?  The  people  were 
told,  as  they  had  been  told  a  thousand  times  before,  that  the 
payment  of  the  debt  was  just  and  necessary.  Who  said  that  it 
was  not  just  and  necessary?  But  was  it  necessary  that  the 
people  should  sacrifice  their  liberties  to  pay  it  ?  Perhaps  there 
never  was  an  action  so  fatal  to  freedom  as  that  lately  adopted 
by  Congress  to  compass  the  darling  object  of  getting  the  purse 
into  its  hands.  Deputations  from  its  own  body  had  been  sent 

*  New  York  Packet,  March  7,  1785. 


268      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TKADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  m. 

to  the  Assemblies  of  Virginia  and  Eliode  Island.  Should  this 
be  tried  on  any  other  Legislature,  Sidney  sincerely  hoped  the 
body  so  afflicted  would  remember  its  dignity,  and  show  that 
the  freedom  of  debate  was  not  to  be  overawed  by  such  means. 
The  memorial  further  set  forth  that  a  tax  collected  by  impost 
was  least  felt  by  the  people.  So  much  the  worse.  Its  imper 
ceptible  operation  would  only  make  it  the  more  easy  to  be  con 
tinued  and  made  everlasting.  That  members  of  Congress  were 
chosen  yearly,  might  be  recalled  at  any  time,  could  not  be  re- 
elected  more  than  twice,  and  so  must,  at  the  end  of  three  years, 
return  to  the  body  of  the  people,  was  another  ballad  sung  in 
the  people's  ears.  This  sounded  well  enough.  But  the  effect 
of  the  change  was  to  take  away  all  responsibility  from  the 
whole.  As  to  recall,  who  in  Congress  would  be  restrained  by 
fear  of  being  called  home  when  the  sessions  of  that  body  were 
held  with  closed  doors,  and  no  one  could  find  out  who  was  the 
mover  of  a  hateful  measure  ?  Besides,  all  who  had  returned  to 
private  life  were,  almost  to  a  man,  noisy  advocates  of  the  in 
crease  of  the  powers  of  Congress.  It  should  therefore  be  re 
membered  that  the  Legislature  which  should  give  the  last  fiat 
to  the  impost  and  regulation  of  trade  would  sign  the  death- 
warrant  of  American  liberty.* 

And  now  the  arguments  and  replies  of  both  parties  came 
out  fast.  Indeed,  it  soon  became  manifest  that  the  great 
struggle  would  be  in  ~New  York.  The  temper  of  Massachu 
setts  had  been  clearly  shown  in  the  strong  resolutions  adopted 
by  the  Boston  merchants.  Pennsylvania  had  not  long  after  fol 
lowed  in  her  track,  and  imposed  heavy  duties  on  foreign  vessels 
and  foreign  goods.  In  South  Carolina  murmurs  of  discontent 
were  heard,  and  the  whole  subject  of  commercial  regulations 
was  being  warmly  debated.  But  the  contest  was  nowhere  car 
ried  on  with  as  much  acrimony  and  spirit  as  in  'New  York. 
There  three  great  parties  were  diligently  striving  for  the  ac 
complishment  of  their  aims.  On  the  one  side  were  the  non- 
impostmen,  bitterly  set  against  the  extension  of  the  power  of 
Congress,  and  devoted  adherents  of  State  rights.  On  the  other 
side  were  the  impost  men,  eager  for  change,  and  confident  that 
the  stability  of  the  Union  depended  on  the  power  of  Congress. 

*  New  York  Packet,  March  17,  1785. 


1785.  THREE  PARTIES  IN  NEW   YORK.  269 

Between  these  extremes  was  a  third,  and  by  no  means  con 
temptible,  party  of  trimmers.  They  were  as  much  disposed  to 
distrust  the  one  set  of  extremists  as  the  other.  The  States, 
they  felt,  should  not  have  all  the  power.  Neither  should  Con 
gress.  There  was  a  golden  mean,  and  this  golden  mean  was  to 
be  found  not  far  from  either  extreme.  There  was  undoubtedly 
much  truth  in  the  assertion  that  trade  and  navigation  matters 
were  in  a  sad  plight.  Something  must  be  done,  and  done  soon. 
But  it  was  by  no  means  clear  whether  that  something  could  be 
best  done  by  Congress  or  by  the  States,  or  by  both  jointly.  It 
was  quite  certain  that  the  people  could  not  do  without  many 
articles  from  over  the  sea ;  and  what  they  deemed  so  essential 
they  would  import  either  directly  or  indirectly.  At  the  pres 
ent  moment  England  would  not  suffer  them  to  carry  any  of  her 
manufactures  in  American  bottoms.  Suppose  that,  in  retalia 
tion,  Congress  forbade  English  vessels  to  bring  English  goods 
to  American  ports.  Would  the  prohibition  stop  the  goods 
coming?  Assuredly  not.  They  would  still  flow  in,  and  the 
fifteen  years  during  which  Congress  had  power  to  keep  on  the 
impost  would  be  fifteen  years  of  smuggling,  of  remonstrances, 
and  of  vain  expectation.  A  general  and  sweeping  prohibition 
was  therefore  to  be  rigidly  guarded  against.  But  special  navi 
gation  acts,  acts  wrhich  should  decide  what  goods  should  come 
into  one  State  and  be  excluded  from  another,  Congress  was 
scarce  the  body  to  make.  The  States  could  do  this  much 
better.  It  was,  of  course,  quite  possible  that  special  acts  might 
in  the  end  fail.  Yery  well.  Let  it  be  so.  The  States  would 
then  be  quite  ready  to  make  over  to  Congress  power  to  regu 
late  trade.  But  perhaps  the  safest  way  was  to  let  trade  alone. 
A  strong  prohibition,  some  held,  would  go  far  toward  estab 
lishing  home  manufactures.  This  was  true.  But  was  it  well 
to  set  up  manufactures  in  a  country  not  fully  or  but  sparsely 
settled,  where  the  villages  were  a  day's  journey  apart,  and  the 
houses  out  of  sight  of  each  other  ?  What  the  country  wanted 
was  men,  not  manufactures ;  and  an  impost  could  not,  unhap 
pily,  produce  them.  What  it  would  bring  forth  was  monopo 
lies.  'Nor  was  there,  .when  the  matter  came  to  be  looked  into, 
much  real  cause  for  the  cry  of  ruin  going  around.  What  were 
the  facts  to  support  it  ?  Would  some  one  name  the  State 


270      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  m. 

whose  staples  were  rotting  for  want  of  a  purchaser  ?  Did  Vir 
ginia  find  any  trouble  in  disposing  of  her  tobacco  ?  Was  South 
Carolina  burdened  with  unsalable  indigo  and  rice?  Where  was 
it  that  the  produce  of  the  fields  did  not  command  a  higher 
price  than  before  the  revolution  ?  What  farmer  did  not  find 
his  grain  taken  the  minute  it  reached  the  market  ?  But  Eng 
land  had  laid  a  heavy  duty  on  oil.  Yery  well.  The  world  was 
full  of  markets  for  oil.  Take  it  to  Ireland.  Take  it  to  any  of 
the  ports  at  which,  in  colonial  days,  no  American  ship  was  ever 
to  be  seen.  All  would  come  right  in  time.  It  was  to  the  in 
terest  of  England  to  make  a  treaty  of  commerce  with  the 
United  States.* 

But  neither  the  efforts  of  the  trimmers  nor  the  supporters 
of  the  impost  could  bring  over  the  Governor  and  the  Legisla 
ture  to  their  way  of  thinking.  The  memorial  which  had  been 
framed  early  in  the  spring,  and  sent  in  covered  with  the  names 
of  wealthy  merchants  and  distinguished  citizens,  met  with  so 
little  success  that  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  determined  to 
again  appeal  to  the  Assembly.  Several  meetings  were  held. 
The  matter  was  gravely  discussed,  and  a  committee  appointed 
to  draw  up  the  memorial. f  The  paper  was  speedily  made 
ready,  and  at  the  same  time  two  circulars  were  prepared.  One 
was  addressed  to  the  States,  and  one  was  addressed  to  the 
counties. 

The  memorial  called  the  attention  of  the  Assembly  to  the 
folly  of  a  system  which,  while  it  empowered  the  United  States 
in  Congress  assembled  to  make  treaties  with  foreign  powers, 
deprived  them  of  the  means  of  making  such  treaties  with  ad 
vantage.  For  no  one  could  be  ignorant  that  all  relations  be 
tween  nation  and  nation  were  founded  on  common  interest. 
Nothing  was  ever  yielded  by  one  save  as  payment  for  some 
thing  gained  of  the  other.  It  was  much  to  be  lamented  that 
the  power  to  regulate  trade  had  not  been  vested  in  the  national 
Legislature,  but  had  been  reserved  by  the  States.  The  States 

*  This  style  of  reasoning  is  well  exemplified  in  an  article  called  Cursory 
Thoughts  on  the  Regulation  of  Trade,  which  came  out  in  the  New  York  Packet 
of  October  27,  1785. 

f  The  memorial  and  the  two  circulars  are  printed  in  full  in  the  New  York 
Packet  for  November  10,  1785.  Another  memorial  by  the  same  body  is  printed 
in  the  Packet  for  March  14,  1785. 


1785.  THE   CIRCULAR   TO   THE   COUNTIES.  271 

could  not  possibly  use  it  for  the  common  good.  They  could 
not  make  treaties.  Trade  could  not,  therefore,  left  to  them, 
be  made  the  basis  of  commercial  compacts.  Nor  was  it  at  all 
likely  that  anything  approaching  a  regular  system  could  be 
adopted  by  thirteen  assemblies,  bent  upon  thirteen  different 
objects,  and  seeing  the  same  object  in  thirteen  different  lights. 

The  circular  to  the  States  was  of  a  somewhat  different 
tone.  They  could  not  but  see,  it  was  there  stated,  that  mer 
chants  and  landholders  had  been  led  to  the  false  belief  that 
their  interests  were  really  quite  unlike.  It  was  not  surprising, 
therefore,  that  one  State  should  suppose  advantage  was  to  be 
gained,  or  danger  shunned,  by  inflicting  injury  or  oppression 
on  another.  Reason  seemed  to  be  unable  to  dispel  this  illusion. 
But  if  reason  were  not  sufficient  to  show  the  fallacy  of  such  a 
belief,  a  severe  experience  in  the  past,  and  a  much  severer  ex 
perience  to  be  apprehended  for  the  future,  would  show  that  in 
the  union  of  the  States  lay  the  source  of  their  greatness  and 
their  power.  Commerce  was  the  basis  of  the  marine.  It  was 
only  by  the  marine  that  the  States  could  ever  hope  to  make 
themselves  respected  as  a  nation.  And,  unless  the  nation  was 
respected,  the  citizens  would  be  despised;  unless  the  nation  had 
the  power  to  exact,  the  citizen  would,  in  foreign  lands,  demand 
his  rights  in  vain. 

The  circular  sent  to  the  counties  likewise  contained  some 
wholesome  truths.  The  small  farmers  and  petty  landholders, 
who  detested  commerce  as  the  bane  of  the  country,  and  looked 
upon  it  as  the  main  channel  through  which  the  gold  and  silver 
of  the  land  flowed  out  and  all  manner  of  foreign  luxuries 
flowed  in,  were  given  to  understand  they  were  mistaken. 
The  instrument  plainly  told  them  that  the  interests  of  the  land 
holder  were  so  closely  bound  up  with  the  interests  of  the  mer 
chant  that  the  moment  commerce  began  to  languish  agriculture 
must  do  the  same.  They  were  assured  that  if  they  supposed 
the  products  of  their  fields  and  their  dairies  were  entirely  con 
sumed  at  home,  they  were  much  in  error.  The  merchants  con 
stantly  sent  great  quantities  abroad.  But  unless  the  United 
States  were  speedily  vested  with  such  power  as  would  make 
it  the  interest  of  foreigners  to  seek  a  commercial  alliance,  the 
merchant  would  not  be  able  to  persist  any  longer  in  the  ruin- 


272      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TEADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  m. 

ous  experiment  of  exporting  grain  and  timber,  tobacco  and 
hemp,  at  a  certain  loss.  Then  a  total  stop  would  be  put  to  the 
purchase  of  produce.  The  States  would  be  drained  of  their 
last  pistareen,  and  the  people  made  unable  to  discharge  their 
debts.  They  were  reminded  that  the  meeting  of  the  Legisla 
ture  was  near  at  hand.  It  became  them,  then,  to  give  pointed 
instructions  to  the  delegates  to  support  every  measure  tending 
to  bestow  on  Congress  that  authority  without  which  the  com 
merce  of  the  country  never  could  be  placed  on  an  equal  footing 
with  the  commerce  of  England,  of  Holland,  and  of  France. 

While  the  circulars  contained,  indeed,  no  reasons  likely  to 
carry  conviction  to  the  minds  of  men  who,  from  ignorance  or 
prejudice,  held  contrary  opinions,  they  were  by  no  means  with 
out  effect.  Every  mail-coach  that  went  out  from  the  city  took 
many  packages  of  them  addressed  to  distant  parts  of  the  coun 
try.  Not  a  few  found  their  way  to  the  inns  of  remote  ham 
lets,  and  were  read  by  some  who  heard  for  the  first  time  that 
there  was  in  New  York  such  a  thing  as  a  Chamber  of  Com 
merce,  and  that  the  English  Navigation  Act  was,  after  all,  a 
very  serious  matter.  And  now  the  discontent  which  had  arisen 
in  Boston,  had  spread  thence  to  Philadelphia,  and  had  been 
taken  up  with  so  much  spirit  in  New  York,  broke  out  in  Vir 
ginia.  But  the  agitators  for  the  regulation  of  trade  in  Virginia 
belonged  to  that  class  of  the  community  which  in  the  Eastern 
and  the  Middle  States  was  most  bitterly  set  against  the  meas 
ure.  In  Massachusetts  and  New  York  the  merchants  were  the 
supporters  and  the  farmers  the  opponents.  In  Virginia  the 
planters  were  to  a  man  united  in  the  opinion  that  some  steps 
must  be  taken  to  mend  commercial  affairs,  and  the  merchants 
quite  disposed  to  let  trade  alone.* 

The  reason  is  obvious.  The  condition  of  things  to  the  south 
of  the  Potomac  was  precisely  the  reverse  of  the  condition  of 
things  to  the  north  of  the  Potomac.  Beyond  the  north  bank 
of  the  river  the  farmers  throve  and  the  merchants  did  a  losing 
business.  Beyond  the  south  bank  the  merchants  were  daily 

*  "  The  mercantile  interest,"  says  Madison,  writing  of  the  investment  of  Con 
gress  with  power  to  regulate  trade,  "  which  has  taken  the  lead  in  rousing  the  pub 
lic  attention  of  other  States,  is  in  this  so  exclusively  occupied  in  British  commerce 
that  what  little  weight  they  have  will  be  most  likely  to  fall  into  the  opposite 
scale."  To  Monroe,  August  7,  1785. 


1785.  PETITIONS  FKOM  NOKFOKK,  ETC.  273 

growing  more  prosperous  and  the  planters  more  impoverished.* 
The  trade  of  Virginia  was  perhaps  more  in  the  hands  of  Eng 
land  than  was  that  of  any  of  her  neighbors.  She  possessed  no 
ships  or  seamen.  Her  merchants  were  every  one  of  them  con 
nected  in  business  with  Great  Britain,  and  with  Great  Britain 
alone.  The  planters  did  most  of  the  exporting.  The  mer 
chants  did  all  the  importing,  and  the  value  of  the  imports  foot 
ed  up  each  year  to  more  than  twice  the  value  of  the  exports. 
The  price,  again,  which  the  imports  and  exports  of  Virginia 
fetched  in  the  home  markets,  when  compared  with  the  price 
the  same  goods  brought  in  neighboring  markets,  was  greatly  in 
favor  of  the  merchants  over  the  planters.  It  was  only  after 
much  higgling  that  a  hundred-weight  of  tobacco  could  be  made 
to  bring  a  guinea  on  the  Rappahannock  and  thirty-two  shillings 
on  the  James.  But  at  the  same  time  in  Philadelphia  forty-four 
shillings,  Virginia  currency,  was  paid  down  for  tobacco  of  the 
James  river  inspection,  and  a  proportionate  sum  for  tobacco  of 
the  Rappahannock  inspection,  f  As  to  imported  merchandise, 
the  price  asked  in  Richmond  and  Norfolk  was  almost  double 
that  asked  in  New  York.  The  merchants,  therefore,  having 
no  cause  for  complaint,  kept  still.  But  the  planters,  finding 
that  they  were  selling  their  staple  for  less  and  buying  their 
goods  for  more  than  their  neighbors,  were  highly  dissatisfied, 
and  with  much  reason.  Yet  they  were  slow  to  action.  Indeed, 
the  fall  was  far  advanced  when  the  House  of  Delegates  raised 
the  question  whether  relief  for  the  present  commercial  distress 
could  better  be  accomplished  by  Congress  or  the  State. 

The  attention  of  the  House  had  been  called  to  this  by 
petitions  which  came  up  from  the  four  great  towns  of  Norfolk, 
Portsmouth,  Suffolk,  and  Alexandria.  The  memorials  present 
ed  a  picture  of  the  state  of  affairs  both  gloomy  and  dishearten 
ing.  They  showed  how  the  prohibition  laid  by  Great  Britain 
on  the  trade  of  the  West  Indies  had  produced  much  distress ; 
how  American  bottoms  had  rapidly  decreased,  how  ship-build 
ing  had  totally  stopped,  how  even  the  carrying  trade  from  town 


*  "  Our  internal  trade  is  taking  an  arrangement  from  which  I  hope  good  conse 
quences.  Retail  stores  are  spreading  all  over  the  country."  Madison  to  Jefferson, 
August  20,  1785. 

f  Madison  to  Monroe,  June  21,  1785.     Also  to  R.  II.  Lee,  July  7,  1785. 

VOL.    I. 19 


274      TEE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  in. 

to  town  along  the  coast  had  gone  into  foreign  hands,  and  that 
the  very  ships  which  went  up  and  down  the  rivers  were  not 
owned  by  Americans. 

Under  this  pressure  the  House  determined  to  take  speedy 
action,  referred  the  petitions  to  a  committee  of  the  wThole  on 
the  state  of  the  commonwealth,  and  on  the  seventh  of  Novem 
ber  resolved  itself  into  a  committee  of  the  whole,  and  took  the 
papers  into  consideration.  A  warm  and  full  discussion  fol 
lowed.  Harrison,  Braxton,  and  Meriwether  Smith  were  for 
State  measures.  Nor  were  there,  in  the  House  of  Deputies, 
three  men  whose  opinions  were  heard  wTith  greater  respect. 
They  were  perhaps  the  oldest  members  of  the  House,  and 
possessed  all  that  traditional  influence  which  in  legislative 
bodies  is  always  exercised  by  the  old  men  over  the  new. 
They  had,  all  three  of  them,  been  members  of  the  Continental 
Congress,  had  often  been  employed  in  the  councils  of  the 
State,  while  Harrison  and  Braxton  added  the  further  renown 
of  having  set  their  names  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

Benjamin  Harrison  was  a  bold,  frank,  outspoken  man.  He 
had  all  his  life  been  active  in  the  cause  of  liberty,  and  had,  in 
the  early  movements  of  the  revolution,  borne  a  part  marked 
with  zeal  and  decision.  A  story  is  told  of  him  which  deserves 
to  be  narrated  as  it  finely  illustrates  the  character  of  the  man. 
In  the  Congress  of  17T5,  when  the  second  petition  to  the  King 
was  under  discussion,  John  Dickinson,  who  had  the  chief  part 
in  framing  it,  said  that  there  was  but  one  word  in  the  paper  he 
disapproved  of,  and  that  word  was  Congress.  Scarcely  had  he 
said  so  when  Harrison  jumped  to  his  feet  and  exclaimed  : 
"  There  is  but  one  word  in  the  paper,  Mr.  President,  which  I 
approve,  and  that  word  is  Congress."  In  the  war  he  carried 
arms  with  distinction,  rose  to  be  colonel  of  a  regiment  of  foot, 
had  lately  been  Governor  of  Virginia,  and  had  commenced  the 
present  session  of  the  Legislature  with  an  animated  contest  for 
the  Speaker's  chair. 

Braxton,  like  Harrison,  was  early  distinguished  for  the 
firmness  and  zeal  with  which  he  defended  the  rights  of  the 
colonies.  No  one  had  been  more  active  in  behalf  of  Henry's 
resolutions  on  the  Stamp  Act.  Yet  his  popularity  was  for  a 
time  under  a  cloud.  He  had,  while  a  Virginia  delegate  to 


1785.         THE   PETITIONS   BEFORE   THE   DELEGATES.  275 

Congress,  recommended  to  the  Virginia  Convention  of  1776 
a  plan  of  government  under  the  signature  of  A  Native.  The 
scheme  was  coldly  received.  The  author  was  believed  to  be 
much  biased  by  his  two  years'  residence  in  England,  and  soon 
after  lost  his  seat  in  Congress. 

But  of  the  three,  the  political  career  of  Meriwether  Smith 
had  been  the  most  singular.  He  was  a  merchant,  and  believed 
to  be  quite  familiar  with  public  affairs.  His  pursuits,  indeed, 
as  a  merchant,  gave  him  great  aptitude  in  the  dispatch  of  busi 
ness.  But  they  were  believed  by  his  friends  to  have  affected 
his  political  views  as  nothing  else  could.  No  man,  as  a  delegate 
to  Congress,  ever  went  through  so  many  stages  of  favor  and  of 
disfavor  with  his  constituents.  For  his  conduct  on  one  occasion 
he  was  warmly  thanked.  For  his  conduct  on  another  he  was 
strongly  censured.  Several  times  he  was  subjected  to  charges 
and  investigations,  which,  though  ending  indeed  in  a  full  acquit 
tal,  marked  him  out  as  an  eccentric  and  impracticable  character.* 

Joined  with  these  three  was  Charles  Thurston.  He  had 
been  bred  to  the  ministry,  but  had,  when  the  war  opened, 
thrown  aside  his  gown,  deserted  his  flock,  become  a  soldier, 
and  was  now  a  most  active  politician. 

When,  however,  these  advocates  of  a  State  navigation  act 
were  bluntly  asked  what  they  had  to  propose,  they  were  not  a 
little  puzzled.  Braxton  then  came  to  their  relief,  and  answered 
that  he  would  have  all  British  vessels  from  the  Indies  excluded 
from  Virginia  ports,  and  that  he  would  have  no  merchant  al 
lowed  to  do  business  in  the  State  till  after  a  residence  of  a 
certain  number  of  years.  But  he  was  plainly  told  by  those 
who  were  for  the  regulation  of  trade  by  Congress  that  such 
talk  did  not  in  the  least  aid  his  side  of  the  question.  Much 
was  said  about  public  faith ;  about  the  injury  each  State  would 
continually  be  doing  to  her  neighbors  if  suffered  to  make  her 
own  commercial  laws,  and  the  want  of  unity  and  distrust  of 
Congress  such  law-making  would  exhibit  to  England.  But 
the  most  masterly  reply  was  the  speech  of  James  Madison,  f 

*  Journals  of  the  Virginia  House  of  Delegates,  October  session,  1779,  p.  30. 
May  session,  1780,  pp.  22,46.  May  session,1781,  p.  14.  October  session,  1781,  p.  40. 

f  Madison  to  Washington,  November  11,  1785.  The  notes  of  this  speech 
will  be  found  in  Madison's  Writings. 


276      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TKADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  in. 

Madison  assured  his  hearers,  who,  because  they  every  year 
sent  a  few  ship-loads  of  tobacco  across  the  Atlantic,  thought 
themselves  able  to  speak  with  authority  on  matters  of  com 
merce  and  trade,  that  general  regulations  were  both  wise  and 
necessary.  In  no  other  way  could  foreign  acts  be  counteracted, 
treaties  made,  ships  and  seamen  encouraged,  embargoes  laid  in 
time  of  war,  and  strife  among  the  States  prevented  in  time  of 
peace.  They  were  reminded  how,  the  moment  Massachusetts 
closed  her  ports  to  English  shipping,  Connecticut  made  hers 
free,  how  bitter  the  dispute  was  growing  between  New  York 
and  New  Jersey,  between  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware,  and  how 
all  these  things  showed  that,  whatever  goods  Virginia  prohibit 
ed  coming  into  Norfolk,  or  Portsmouth,  or  Alexandria,  would 
be  admitted  to  Maryland  or  North  Carolina,  and  thence,  by 
fair  means  or  by  foul,  surely  come  over  her  borders.  But  the 
measure  was  not  only  necessary,  it  was  safe.  If  it  were  wise 
to  intrust  Congress  with  power  to  manage  war,  it  was  equally 
wise  to  intrust  Congress  with  power  to  manage  trade.  Madi 
son  then  went  on  to  show  them  how  the  peculiar  situation  of 
the  United  States  increased  the  repellent  power  of  each  State, 
and  how  easily  this  might  lead  to  the  utter  dissolution  of  the 
Confederation.  Of  such  a  breaking  up  there  could  be  but  one 
result.  In  every  State  a  standing  army,  taxes  made  perpetual, 
and  each  petty  squabble  decided  by  an  appeal  to  arms.  When 
the  vote  was  taken,  the  Speaker  announced  that  the  Ayes  had 
it,  and  that  the  sense  of  the  House  was  that  power  over  trade 
ought  to  be  vested  in  Congress  with  certain  restrictions.  In 
accordance  with  the  custom  of  the  House,  a  committee  was 
then  appointed  to  prepare  instructions  for  the  Virginia  dele 
gates  in  Congress.  The  instructions  were  speedily  drawn  up, 
presented  to  the  Legislature,  and  discussed  in  a  committee  of 
the  whole.* 

And  now  the  opposition  party  of  Harrison  and  Braxton 
mustered  its  full  strength.  The  discussion  lasted  through  sev 
eral  days,  and  was  marked  by  the  bitterness  and  intemperance 


*  Madison,  in  his  account  of  the  debate,  says  :  "  Its  adversaries  were  the 
Speaker,  Thurston,  and  Corbin ;  they  were  bitter  and  illiberal  against  Congress 
and  the  northern  States  beyond  example."  Madison  to  Jefferson,  January  22, 

1786. 


1786.  DEBATE   ON  THE  INSTRUCTIONS.  2TT 

of  the  attacks  on  Congress  and  on  the  North.  The  bill  was 
iirst  discussed  on  the  grounds  of  its  general  merits,  and,  in  the 
heat  of  debate,  Thurston,  after  a  savage  attack  on  the  eastern 
States,  so  far  forgot  himself  as  to  assert  that  it  was  very  doubt 
ful  "  whether  it  would  not  be  better  to  encourage  the  British 
than  the  eastern  marine."  But  the  remarks  raised  such  a 
storm  of  invective  that  the  attack  was  soon  shifted  to  the 
ground  of  perpetual  duration.  Here  the  opponents  of  the 
resolution  were  more  successful,  and,  after  much  talk  about 
tyrants,  about  liberty,  and  the  powder  of  Congress  over  the 
States,  succeeded  in  cutting  down  the  term  of  the  impost  iirst 
to  twenty-five  and  then  to  thirteen  years.  But  the  limitation 
to  thirteen  years  made  the  resolution  worse  than  none.  The 
movers  abandoned  it  with  disgust,  and  suffered  it  to  lie  on  the 
table  till  the  last  day  of  the  session,  wThen  a  substitute  was 
moved  which  led  to  consequences  of  which  not  even  the  far- 
sighted  judgment  of  Madison,  who  prepared  it,  had  any  con 
ception  whatever.  This  was  the  beginning  of  that  movement 
which  went  on  step  by  step  in  a  direct  and  unbroken  progres 
sion  to  the  establishment  of  our  present  Government.  From 
this  motion  came  the  National  Trade  Convention  at  Annapolis 
in  1786.  From  the  Annapolis  Convention  of  1786  came  the 
Philadelphia  Convention  of  May,  1787 ;  and  from  the  Phila 
delphia  Convention  of  1787  came  the  Constitution  under  which 
we  live.  It  is  therefore  well  worth  our  while  to  narrate,  with 
some  fulness  of  detail,  the  history  of  this  movement  from  its 
insignificant  beginnings. 

The  Potomac  river  had  always  been  regarded  as  the  boun 
dary  line  between  Maryland  and  Virginia.  The  charter  of  Lord 
Baltimore  had  so  defined  it,  but  had  made  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
colonial  governors  extend  across  the  river  to  the  southern  shore., 
By  the  constitution  of  1776,  Virginia  recognized  this  charter; 
released  to  Maryland  all  the  territory  claimed  by  it,  and  all 
rights  demanded,  except  the  free  use  and  navigation  of  the 
Potomac  and  Pohomoke  from  their  sources  to  their  mouths. 
The  language  conveying  the  grant  was  broad  and  general,  and 
might,  without  much  sophistry,  be  construed  into  a  complete 
relinquishing  by  Virginia  of  all  jurisdiction  over  the  rivers. 
Yet  it  seems  to  have  escaped  notice  till  the  year  after  the  peace 


278      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  m. 

when  Madison  brought  it  to  the  attention  of  the  Virginia  Legis 
lature.  He  had,  it  seems,  early  in  1784,  been  travelling  along 
the  Potomac  and  had  then  been  told  of  many  flagrant  evasions 
successfully  practiced  by  foreign  vessels  loading  at  Alexandria. 
On  his  return  to  Orange  he  immediately  wrote  to  Jefferson 
who  at  that  time  sat  in  Congress  as  one  of  the  delegates  from 
Virginia.*  He  quoted  the  language  of  the  grant,  mentioned 
the  evasions  which  had  come  under  his  own  observation,  urged 
Jefferson  to  sound  the  Maryland  delegates  on  the  matter,  and 
threw  out  the  suggestion  of  a  joint  commission  from  the  two 
States  to  define  the  power  of  each  on  the  river.  The  time,  he 
thought,  was  at  hand,  as  Maryland,  put  into  a  good  humor  by 
the  cession  of  the  back  lands,  would  be  all  the  more  ready  to 
listen  to  reason.  The  suggestion  for  a  joint  commission  was 
warmly  approved  by  Jefferson.  A  bill  was  soon  brought  into 
the  House  of  Delegates,  and  three  commissioners  appointed. 
Three  more  were,  in  the  fall,  appointed  by  Maryland,  and  in 
March,  1785,  the  commissioners  met  at  Alexandria  but  soon 
adjourned  to  Mount  Vernon.  Everything  that  bore  upon  ju 
risdiction  over  the  river  and  the  bay  was  carefully  gone  into, 
all  conflicting  claims  were  amicably  adjusted,  and  the  terms  of 
a  compact  quickly  settled. 

But,  as  the  discussion  went  on,  the  commissioners  could  not 
fail  to  observe  that  there  were  many  things  closely  bound  up 
with  the  welfare  of  the  two  States  which  they  had  no  rightful 
power  to  touch.  It  was  doubtless  of  great  moment  that  each 
State  should  have  equal  and  well-defined  rights  on  the  waters 
of  the  river  and  the  bay.  But  it  was  also  of  much  importance 
that  every  hundred-weight  of  tobacco  that  went  over  the  Poto 
mac  to  Maryland,  and  every  barrel  of  corn  that  came  from 
Maryland  to  Virginia,  should  be  made  subject  to  a  uniform 
system  of  duties.  Nor  was  it  less  desirable  that  all  disputes 
about  the  currency,  or  the  meaning  of  the  commercial  laws, 
should  be  settled  in  accordance  with  some  uniform  principles. 
The  commissioners  were  well  aware  that,  however  needful 
these  things  might  be,  it  did  not  fall  within  their  instructions 
to  meddle  with  them.  Yet  they  felt  sure  that,  as  good  men 
and  true,  they  might  with  perfect  propriety  draw  up  a  supple- 

*  Madison  to  Jefferson,  March  16,  1784  ;  also,  April  25,  1784. 


1785.  VIRGINIA  CALLS  A  CONVENTION  OF  THE  STATES.  279 

mentarj  report  setting  forth  how,  in  the  course  of  their  labors, 
they  had  been  deeply  impressed  with  the  want  of  legislation  on 
the  currency,  on  duties,  and  on  commercial  matters  in  general. 
This  indeed  they  did.  And  added  the  suggestion  that  each 
year  two  commissioners  should  be  appointed  to  report  upon  the 
details  of  a  system  for  the  next  year. 

The  Legislature  of  Maryland  was  first  to  act  on  the  re 
port.  And,  in  doing  so,  went  beyond  the  suggestion  of  the 
commission  and  proposed  that  Delaware  and  Pennsylvania 
should  be  invited  to  join  Virginia  and  Maryland  in  a  common 
system  of-  commercial  policy.  This  was  in  November.  At 
that  time  neither  the  proceedings  of  the  joint  commission  nor 
the  action  of  the  Maryland  House  of  Delegates  had  been  laid 
before  the  Legislature  of  Virginia.  But  Madison,  who  was  a 
commissioner,  was  well  aware  of  what  had  been  done  and  now 
saw  his  opportunity.  The  resolution  granting  Congress  power 
to  regulate  trade  for  thirteen  years  was,  in  his  opinion,  likely 
to  do  more  harm  than  good.  He  determined,  therefore,  to  at 
tempt  to  baffle  the  arts  of  the  opposition,  and  to  further  the 
good  cause  by  enlarging  the  recommendations  which  he  knew 
would  shortly  be  presented  to  the  House,  into  a  call  for  a  con 
vention  of  commissioners  from  all  the  States.  He  accordingly 
drew  up  such  a  resolution.  But  when  he  had  made  it  ready 
a  new  difficulty  presented  itself.  Who  should  introduce  it? 
He  had  long  been  a  member  of  Congress.  He  had  on  sev 
eral  occasions,  in  set  speeches,  defended  the  extension  of  the 
powers  of  that  body,  and  particularly  in  matters  of  trade.  He 
was  therefore  often  accused  of  undue  bias  in  favor  of  Con 
gress,  and  he  knew  that  any  resolution  he  might  bring  in  would 
be  viewed  with  more  jealousy,  and  scrutinized  with  more 
severity  than  if  brought  in  by  any  one  else.  In  this  difficulty 
he  had  recourse  to  Mr.  Tyler,  who  agreed  with  him  in  politics, 
who  had  never  sat  in  Congress,  and  whose  popularity  in  the 
House  was  great.  Tyler  introduced  the  resolution.  It  was 
moved  as  a  substitute  for  the  original  motion,  and,  as  it  was  not 
pressed,  was  laid  on  the  table.  But  at  last,  on  the  fifth  of  De 
cember,  the  Maryland  resolutions  were  brought  before  the 
House  of  Delegates  and  referred  to  the  committee  on  com 
merce,  A  week  later  the  report  of  the  joint  commission  under- 


280      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  ni. 

went  a  like  fate.  This,  however,  was  reported  back  a  month 
after,  in  a  series  of  resolutions  similar  to  those  of  Maryland,  and 
passed.  As  for  the  supplementary  report,  a  copy  was  ordered 
to  be  sent  to  each  State.  With  the  copy  was  to  go  the  request 
that  each  of  the  eleven  would  appoint  commissioners  to  meet 
with  those  from  Maryland  and  Virginia  for  the  purposes  ex 
pressed  in  the  instrument.  And  now  the  way  seemed  open. 
The  recommendation  of  the  commission  fell,  indeed,  far  short 
of  the  resolution  of  Madison.  Yet  it  was  a  step  in  the  right 
direction.  The  commissioners  had  contented  themselves  with 
urging  a  uniform  system  of  duties  between  the  States.  Madi 
son  proposed  that  the  convention  should  go  beyond  this,  should 
examine  the  condition  of  the  trade  of  the  Confederation,  and 
should  report  such  an  act  as  would,  when  adopted  by  each  State, 
enable  Congress  to  provide  for  the  trade  of  the  whole  country 
in  the  most  effectual  manner.  In  this  form  his  resolution  was 
taken  from  the  table  on  the  last  day  of  the  session  and  rapidly 
passed  through  both  branches  of  the  Legislature.  Seven  com 
missioners  were  appointed.  Among  them  was  Meri  wether 
Smith,  who  had  from  first  to  last  opposed  it  with  bitterness  and 
asperity. 

A  few  weeks  after  the  breaking  up  of  the  Houses  the  seven 
commissioners  held  their  first  sitting  at  Richmond.  The  busi 
ness  before  them  was  to  determine  a  time  and  to  select  a  place 
of  meeting  for  the  proposed  convention.  The  day  was  soon 
fixed  upon  as  the  second  Monday  in  September,  1786.  But 
the  place  was  not  chosen  till  after  much  discussion.  For  the 
seven  were  agreed  that  wherever  the  convention  met  it  should 
at  least  do  so  at  a  place  far  removed  from  the  sittings  of  Con 
gress  and  the  neighborhood  of  great  commercial  towns.  Were 
the  delegates  to  assemble  at  New  York,  or  indeed  at  Philadel 
phia,  the  cry  would  surely  go  up  that  they  had  been  awed,  or 
browbeaten,  by  members  of  Congress  to  adopt  such  measures 
as  would  gratify  what  Brutus  and  Gracchus,  Cassius  and  Junius, 
called  "  the  lust  of  power."  Were  they  to  deliberate  near  the 
large  seaports,  where  the  merchants  were  numerous  and  power 
ful,  nothing  would  be  able  to  dissuade  the  multitude  from 
the  belief  that  every  member  of  the  convention  had  been  but 
ton-holed  by  dozens  of  distressed  merchants,  or  had  his  ears 


1786.  THE  PAPER-MONEY  PARTY.  281 

filled  with  complaints  and  his  pockets  with  petitions,  till  he  was 
made  to  believe  that  matters  were  a  hundredfold  worse  than 
they  were,  and  could  only  be  remedied  by  extending  the  power 
of  Congress.  It  was  thought,  however,  that  all  ground  for  such 
charges  was  completely  removed  by  selecting  Annapolis  as  the 
place  of  meeting! * 

The  call  for  the  Trade  Convention,  however,  excited  much 
less  discussion  than  was  expected.  The  attention  of  the  people 
was  wholly  taken  up  with  a  subject  which  was  to  them  much 
more  pressing.  There  were  at  that  time,  as  there  have  been 
and  still  are,  in  every  State  select  companies  of  incorrigible 
fools  who  thought  that  a  State  could,  by  merely  calling  a  bundle 
of  old  rags  a  hundred  thousand  pounds,  really  add  one  hundred 
thousand  pounds  to  the  wealth  of  the  community,  and  that  if 
any  man  were  rash  enough  to  doubt  this  he  should  be  locked 
up  in  jail  till  he  came  to  his  senses.  These  men  had,  during 
the  summer  and  fall,  been  unusually  active  and  clamorous,  and 
succeeded  in  bringing  over  to  their  way  of  thinking  great  num 
bers  of  converts.  Nor  was  it  a  very  difficult  matter  to  make 
converts.  For  money  had  become  so  scarce  that  many  men 
who  at  any  other  time  would  have  scouted  the  talk  of  the  paper 
advocates  as  the  babble  of  fools,  were  easily  made  to  believe  a 
debased  currency  which  circulated  freely  was,  after  all,  much 
better  than  a  good  currency  of  which  they  rarely  saw  a  coin. 
Indeed,  with  the  recollection  of  the  dark  days  of  1779,  when 
forty  dollars  were  paid  for  a  hat,  fifty  pounds  for  a  hundred  of 
sugar,  and  as  many  dollars  for  a  hundred  of  flour,  still  fresh  in 
their  memories,  the  multitude  was  not  ashamed  to  cry  out  for  a 
new  issue  of  paper  money,  and  for  new  gag-laws  to  make  it 
circulate.  The  consequences  were  -soon  apparent.  The  elec 
tions  came  on,  and  in  the  Legislatures  of  seven  States  out  of  the 
thirteen  the  paper  men  counted  a  majority.  No  sooner  did 
they  find  themselves  in  power  than  they  brought  in  all  manner 
of  bills  for  the  issue  of  paper,  and  hurried  them  through  with 
all  possible  speed.  In  most  instances  the  opposition  encoun 
tered  was  small  in  numbers  and  broken  in  spirit.  But  in  a  few 
States  the  struggle  was  bitter  and  protracted.  Such  a  one  was 

*  Such  was  the  statement  made  to  Madison  by  Edmund  Randolph.     Madison 
to  Jefferson,  March  18,  1786. 


282      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  in. 

Maryland.  More  than  a  year  before  a  paper-money  bill  had 
been  framed,  had  been  strongly  defended  in  petitions  to  the 
House  and  heartily  reviled  in  letters  to  the  Gazette,  had  been 
passed  by  the  House,  and,  most  happily,  thrown  out  by  the 
Senate.  This  merely  increased  the  clamor  and  indignation  of 
the  people,  and  in  .November,  1785,  a  petition  praying  for  the 
emission  of  paper  money  came  in  from  the  town  of  Baltimore. 
Nine  hundred  and  ten  men  put  their  hands  to  the  instrument. 
The  whole  subject  was  at  once  up  for  discussion.  The  troubles, 
it  was  said,  which  afflicted  the  State  were  not  to  be  cured  by 
building  up  manufactures,  by  encouraging  commerce,  by  pass 
ing  navigation  bills.  These  were  the  things  which  made  the 
troubles.  The  true  panacea  was  paper  money.  From  the  very 
day  on  which  the  bills  began  to  issue  from  the  Treasury  the 
burden  of  taxes  would  grow  lighter,  debts  be  discharged  with 
ease,  arts  and  commerce  nourish,  and  the  faces  of  all  men  wear 
a  contented  expression. 

To  this  childish  talk  were  opposed  arguments  which  might 
be  perused  with  profit  by  those  mischievous  schemers  who  in 
our  time,  under  the  name  of  Greenbackers,  advocate  a  money 
policy  as  vicious  and  absurd  as  that  which,  ninety-eight  years 
ago,  was  vainly  combated  by  our  ancestors.  Those  who  had 
been  led  away  by  the  large  promises  of  the  paper  men  were 
told  by  the  specie  men  that  the  main  support  of  paper  money 
was  public  opinion.  The  support  of  the  many  was  also  the 
foundation  of  all  power  in  the  Government.  A  Government 
in  which  the  people  had  no  faith  was  doomed.  A  currency 
in  which  the  people  had  no  faith  was  likewise  doomed ;  it 
had  no  value  whatsoever.  But  public  opinion  as  applied  to 
paper  money  meant  something  very  different  from  public 
opinion  as  applied  to  Government.  It  meant  a  firm  belief 
that  a  dollar  in  credit-bills  was  equal  to,  and  would  answer  all 
the  purposes  of,  a  Spanish  dollar  in  silver.  If  such  faith  ex 
isted  among  men,  then  the  road  to  an  issue  of  paper  money 
would  be  smooth  and  easy  to  travel.  Such  confidence  did  not 
prevail,  nor  could  any  fair-minded  man  deny  that  it  ought  to 
be  firmly  set  up  before  they  ventured  on  an  expedient  which 
had  so  many  times  before  been  productive  of  miserable  conse 
quences.  It  was  easy  to  understand  the  motives  which  led 


1786.    THE  STEUGGLE  FOR  PAPER  MONEY  IN  MARYLAND.  283 

men  to  favor  the  plan.  Dishonest  debtors  held  the  delusive 
hope  that  a  new  tender  law  would  be  passed.  Merchants  who 
found  the  gains  arising  from  the  fluctuations  of  paper  to  be  the 
most  profitable  part  of  their  business,  would,  of  course,  give  it 
a  warm  approval.  The  multitude,  heavy  laden  with  taxes, 
would  welcome  with  delight  any  means  of  paying  them  with 
as  much  ease  as  in  the  days  when  red  money  was  taken  at  par. 
But  suppose  this  new  money  did  come  out ;  was  there  a  farmer 
or  a  planter  who  would  take  it  in  payment  for  barrels  of  corn 
or  hogsheads  of  tobacco?  Would  a  moneyed  man  with  his 
specie  out  at  interest  take  it  ?  Would  the  merchants  take  it 
for  an  assortment  of  goods  at  the  current  price  ?  The  truth 
was,  the  wit  of  man  could  devise  no  method  of  supporting 
paper  money  the  moment  public  opinion  failed  it.  Bills  of 
credit,  when  unsustained  by  this  prop,  stood  on  exactly  the 
same  footing  as  private  bills.  Let  the  richest,  the  most  highly 
esteemed  man  in  the  State  issue  a  bond  of  one  hundred  pounds 
for  five  years  and  what  would  become  of  it  ?  He  could  not 
sell  it  for  half  that  sum.  The  same  wras  true  with  paper 
money.  When  the  debtor  knew  he  could  discharge  specie 
obligations  with  it ;  when  the  merchant  knew  he  could  pass  it 
as  coin  in  other  States ;  when  the  Government  took  it  for 
taxes,  and  the  money-lenders  exchanged  it  for  silver  and  gold 
at  par,  then  would  paper  money  be  as  good  as  specie,  and  not 
before.  To  talk  of  ample  funds  for  redemption  at  a  distant 
day  betrayed  a  lack  of  information  on  the  subject  that  was 
really  lamentable.* 

In  the  midst  of  the  discussion  the  term  of  the  Senate  ex 
pired,  and  the  whole  body  was  to  be  chosen  anew.  Then  the 
excitement  rose  to  fever  heat.  Never  had  there  been  such 
electioneering,  such  wire-pulling,  such  pamphleteering  known 
in  the  State.  Members  of  each  House  canvassed  openly  among 
the  people,  and,  when  the  election  was  over,  it  wTas  found  that, 
although  the  House  of  Deputies  was  made  up  almost  exclusive 
ly  of  the  paper  men,  and  though  many  old  members  of  the 
Senate  had  lost  their  seats,  the  hard-money  men  still  presented 
a  formidable  majority  in  the  Upper  House.  The  result  was 

*  These  arguments  are  set  forth  in  a  paper  in  the  Maryland  Gazette,  Decem 
ber  2,  1784. 


281      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  in. 

inevitable.  The  House  of  Deputies  almost  immediately  passed 
an  act  for  the  issue  of  credit-bills.  But  the  Senate  stood  firm, 
threw  out  the  bill,  and,  at  the  fall  election  of  1787,  the  paper- 
money  scheme  was  once  more  made  the  question  of  an  exciting 
canvass.* 

In  other  States,  however,  the  struggle  was  soon  over.  In 
Pennsylvania  almost  the  only  man  of  ability  and  note  who  held 
out  vigorously  against  the  rag-money  party  was  Pelatiah  Web 
ster.  Yery  little  information  regarding  him  has  come  down  to 
us ;  but  his  works  show  him  to  have  been  a  man  of  parts,  clear 
headed,  and  a  student  of  political  economy  and  finance.  Indeed, 
no  one  among  his  contemporaries  maintained  sounder  views  on 
these  matters,  or  labored  more  diligently  to  instruct  the  people. 
An  ardent  free-trader  and  a  hard-money  man,  he  spent  much 
leisure  time  in  writing  little  tracts  on  his  favorite  hobbies. 
Now  it  was  a  pamphlet  on  the  danger  of  too  much  circulating 
cash  in  a  State ;  now  a  neat  essay  on  the  Test  Act,  on  Credit, 
or  a  paper  embodying  severe  strictures  on  the  Tender  Act. 
But  more  commonly  his  theme  was  Free  Trade  and  Finance. 
Six  essays  on  this  subject  had  already  come  out  when,  in  Janu 
ary,  1785,  he  published  the  seventh.  Like  all  its  predecessors, 
though  treating  of  things  which  to  most  readers  are  tiresome 
and  dry,  it  was  pleasingly  written,  and  contained  much  whole 
some  advice.  The  idea  that  there  was  a  great  scarcity  of  cash 
was,  he  said,  erroneous.  There  was  a  full  sufficiency.  Every 
thing  that  had  a  cash  value,  labor,  and  indeed  all  the  great 
staple  commodities  produced  by  it,  would  and  did  command 
not  only  immediate  payment,  but  high  prices.  On  an  average, 
forty  to  fifty  per  cent  more  was  obtained  for  labor  and  for 
country  produce  in  1781  than  in  1774.  It  was  then  absurd  to 
talk  of  the  lack  of  money  when  labor  and  the  fruit  of  it  had 
quick  sales,  good  prices,  and  cash.  To  say  that  it  was  hard  to 


*  See  a  letter  from  Madison  to  Jefferson,  August  12,  1786.  Writing  to  Mon 
roe  four  months  later,  he  says :  "  We  hear  that  Maryland  is  much  agitated  on  the 
score  of  paper  money,  the  House  of  Delegates  having  decided  in  favor  of  an  emis 
sion."  In  1787,  April  15th,  Franklin  writes:  "Maryland,  too,  is  divided  on  the 
same  subject  (paper  money),  the  Assembly  being  for  it,  and  the  Senate  against  it. 
Each  is  now  employed  in  endeavoring  to  gain  the  people  to  its  party  against  the 
next  election,  and  it  is  probable  the  Assembly  may  prevail."  Franklin  to  De  la 
Rochefoucauld. 


1786.  PAPEK  MONEY  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA.  285 

borrow  money,  and  that  all  kinds  of  public  securities  were 
down  far  below  par,  was  no  argument.  If  capitalists  would 
not  put  out  their  money,  if  loan-office  certificates,  depreciation 
certificates,  and  final  settlements  were  to  be  had  at  two  shil 
lings  sixpence  in  the  pound,  or  eight  for  one,  that  did  not  prove 
money  to  be  scarce.  What  it  did  prove  was  a  want  of  public 
and  private  faith,  and  a  distrust  of  all  security.  He  then 
showed  most  forcibly  that  an  issue  of  paper  money  would  not 
mend  matters  in  the  least.*  But  his  arguments  fell  on  deaf 
ears.  The  House  yielded  to  the  rage  for  paper  money,  and 
ordered  bills  of  credit  to  be  issued  by  the  State  Treasurer. 
Rittenhouse  accordingly  notified  the  President,  on  the  tenth  of 
May,  1YS5,  that  bills  to  the  amount  of  seven  thousand  pounds 
had  been  signed,  and  were  ready  to  issue ;  that  the  signers 
were  working  industriously,  and  that  he  felt  sure  in  future  at 
least  ten  thousand  pounds  would  come  out  each  week.f  The 
sum  emitted  was  small.  The  funds  for  sinking  it  were  good, 
and  it  was  not  made  a  legal  tender.  It  went  into  circulation 
partly  by  way  of  loans  to  the  farmers  on  their  lands,  and  partly 
by  way  of  payments  to  the  public  creditors.  It  was  believed, 
therefore,  to  be  as  good  as  money  of  the  kind  could  be  made, 
or,  as  the  supporters  said,  as  good  as  specie.  Yet  before  the 
first  of  August,  1786,  wras  come,  the  depreciation  had  reached 
twelve  per  cent.;): 

North  Carolina  came  next.  The  amount  put  out  had  been 
quite  large,  had  been  made  a  legal  tender,  and  been  issued  in 
that  way  which,  of  all  ways,  was  the  surest  to  cause  a  deprecia 
tion  at  the  start.  A  little  was  loaned  on  landed  property,  and 
as  much  as  possible  passed  off  on  creditors  who  had  bills  against 
the  State.  But  this  proved  far  too  sluggish  a  channel,  and, 
under  the  pretence  of  throwing  the  new  money  rapidly  into 
circulation,  large  purchases  of  tobacco  were  ordered  by  the 
State.  The  agent  charged  with  this  duty  received  strict  com 
mands  to  make  all  payments  in  paper,  and  to  put  down  for 
each  pound  of  leaves  twice  as  much  as  the  planters  could,  in 
the  best  market,  obtain  for  it  in  specie.  Every  debtor,  there- 

*  Essays  of  Pelatiah  Webster. 

f  Rittenhouse  to  Dickinson,  May  10,  1785.     Pennsylvania  Archives,  1785, 

J  See  a  letter  from  Madison  to  Jefferson,  August  12,  1786. 


28G      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  m. 

fore,  who  could  lay  hands  on  a  hundred-weight  of  tobacco,  car 
ried  it  to  the  agent,  received  double  its  specie  value  in  paper, 
and  then  hastened  off  to  pay  his  creditors  in  paper  shillings  and 
dollars,  which  the  law  declared  to  be  quite  as  good  as  silver 
ones.  But  something  more  than  the  votes  of  a  Legislature  was 
needed  to  transmute  rags  into  silver.  From  the  day  on  which 
the  paper  first  appeared,  depreciation  went  steadily  on  till  the 
new  bills  were  paid  and  received  at  a  discount  of  thirty  per 
cent. 

In  South  Carolina  the  advocates  of  soft  money  denied  that 
the  paper  had  suffered  any  decline  whatever.  The  bills  had 
been  issued  as  loans  to  individuals,  and  had  not  been  made  a 
legal  tender.  Yet,  in  spite  of  boasts  and  promises,  depreciation 
showed  itself  in  the  rapidity  with  which  the  price  of  every  kind 
of  goods  went  up.  Indeed,  matters  soon  came  to  such  a  pass 
that  the  paper  men,  in  desperation,  called  a  meeting  of  planters 
at  the  State  House.  Judge  Heywood  took  the  chair,  and 
stated  that  the  purpose  of  the  meeting  was  to  induce  the  plant 
ers  to  do  something  for  the  support  of  the  credit  of  the  new 
medium.  A  spirited  debate  followed.  In  the  course  of  it  Mr. 
Bradsford  spoke  for  the  merchants.  The  merchants,  he  said, 
were  fully  determined  to  give  the  bills  every  degree  of  support 
in  their  power.  They  had,  in  fact,  entered  into  a  solemn 
league  to  do  so.  It  was  greatly  to  be  hoped  a  like  disposition 
would  not  be  found  wanting  in  the  planting  interest.  For 
at  least  a  month  past  no  difference  had  been  made  by  the  mem 
bers  of  this  league  between  paper  dollars  and  silver  dollars, 
which  circulated  much  more  freely  than  they  had  done  for 
years.  He  had  himself  received  many  payments  in  specie,  and 
he  had  exchanged  bills  to  the  amount  of  several  hundred  dol- 

o 

lars  with  the  vendue  masters  in  order  to  oblige  friends  who 
wished  to  go  out  of  the  State.  But  this  equality  had  been  de 
stroyed  by  some  impatient  ones.  They  wished  to  leave  the 
State.  They  were  in  want  of  specie,  and,  to  get  it  at  once,  had 
given  orders  to  their  agents  or  factors  to  sell  for  one  half  paper, 
one  half  specie.  This  distinction  had  alarmed  the  distrustful, 
and  paper  was  now  going  down. 

Bradsford  was  followed  by  De  Saussure.  He  announced 
himself  as  a  merchant,  and  told  the  meeting  that  in  his  house 


1786.  THE  HINT  CLUB  AT  CHARLESTON.  287 

the  paper  of  South  Carolina  was  held  to  be  as  good  as  gold. 
This  paper  had  been  put  out  for  the  sole  purpose  of  enabling 
the  planters  to  extricate  themselves  from  debts  and  embarrass 
ments.  As  soon  as  it  came  forth,  the  merchants,  out  of  pity  for 
the  planters,  had  given  it  every  support  they  could.  Suppose 
they  had  not  done  so.  Suppose  they  had  adopted  a  different 
line  of  conduct,  and,  instead  of  taldng,  had  refused  the  paper. 
What  would  then  have  happened  ?  It  would  have  instantly  lost 
value.  But  while  the  merchants  were  striving,  to  keep  up  the 
value  of  paper,  the  planters  were  striving  to  pull  it  down. 
They  were  asking  more  for  rice  if  paid  for  in  paper  than  if 
paid  for  in  gold.  Nor  was  it  in  this  article  alone  that  the  in 
crease  in  price  had  taken  place.  It  was  common  for  planters  to 
ask  six  shillings  for  indigo  in  paper,  or  four  shillings  sixpence 
in  specie.  Those  who  had  corn  demanded  eight  shillings  paper, 
or  a  dollar  in  silver.  If  this  went  on,  the  credit  of  the  paper 
then  circulating  would  surely  be  ruined.  Before  the  meeting 
broke  up,  every  one  present  agreed  to  take  the  paper  as  equal 
to  silver  and  gold,  and  solemnly  pledged  himself  to  buy  no 
goods  of  any  kind  on  which  an  abatement  was  offered  for  pay 
ment  in  coin.* 

Meanwhile,  some  hot-heads  at  Charleston  determined  to  try 
what  threats  and  a  little  coercion  could  do.  They  accordingly 
formed  themselves  into  an  organization  called  the  Hint  Club, 
held  regular  meetings,  and  appointed  a  secret  committee.  The 
precise  purpose  of  the  club,  and  the  duty  of  the  committee,  is, 
it  must  be  owned,  obscure.  But,  so  far  as  can  now  be  known, 
it  was  the  business  of  the  secret  committee-men  to  hunt  out 
among  the  planters  and  merchants  all  such  as  favored  hard 
money,  to  watch  them  closely,  and,  if  their  conduct  seemed 
likely  to  injure  the  prosperity  of  the  credit-bills,  convey  to 
them  a  forcible  hint  that  it  would  be  well  to  desist.  "When  the 
hint  failed  the  club  was  notified.  A  meeting  was  called,  a 
night  and  a  rendezvous  chosen,  and,  when  the  time  came,  three 
rockets  let  off.  Then  the  members  hastened  to  the  appointed 
.place  and  went  thence  in  a  body  to  hurl  down,  as  it  was  said, 
public  vengeance  on  the  destroyers  of  the  common  wealth,  f 

*  New  York  Packet,  August  28,  1786. 

f  New  York  Gazetteer  and  Country  Journal,  July  21,  1786. 


288      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  m. 

In  Georgia  the  opposition  to  the  paper  money  was  equally 
strong,  and  the  means  taken  to  force  it  into  circulation  equally 
unjust.  The  Legislature  had,  at  its  late  session,  ordered  an 
emission  of  paper  currency,  had  made  it  a  legal  tender,  and  the 
bills  were  almost  ready  to  come  out.  While  the  matter  was 
still  under  discussion,  the  laborers  and  mechanics  had  begun  to 
murmur  against  it,  and  some  talk  of  a  petition  was  heard. 
They  had  not  forgotten  what  became  of  the  late  issue.  How 
it  had  steadily  gone  down  in  value  till  the  bills  would  scarce 
bring  the  sum  expended  in  printing  them;  and  how  this 
caused  great  distress  and  misery,  which  they  would  not  will 
ingly  a  second  time  undergo.  But  no  sooner  did  it  become 
known  that  the  act  had  passed,  and  that  the  paper  was  really 
coming  out,  than  they  resorted  to  strong  measures,  held  meet 
ings,  drew  up  resolutions,  and  lay  down  their  course  of  con 
duct.  One  of  the  first  meetings  was  held  early  in  Septem 
ber  at  the  Court-House  at  Savannah,  and  was  composed  en 
tirely  of  mechanics.*  They  understood,  they  said,  in  the 
resolutions  framed  on  that  occasion,  that  the  paper  money 
shortly  to  be  put  out  was  a  legal  tender  for  all  debts  pres 
ent  and  to  come.  The  funds  had,  however,  in  their  opin 
ion,  no  better  security  for  redemption  than  the  paper  issued 
in  times  past,  and  declared  by  law  to  be  sunk  at  one  thou 
sand  dollars  in  bills  for  one  dollar  in  silver.  They  could  not 
therefore,  in  justice  to  their  families,  take  the  money  of  the 
new  issue  at  par,  but  only  at  so  much  as  they  could  sell  it  for 
in  coin. 

The  merchants  took  a  different  view  of  the  matter.  They 
had,  to  a  man,  worked  hard  to  have  the  money  issued,  and, 
now  it  was  out,  were  determined  to  support  it.  They  knew, 
moreover,  where  their  strength  lay,  for  they  were  the  pur 
chasers  and  exporters  of  the  rice,  the  indigo,  the  pitch,  what 
ever,  in  short,  the  plantations  around  Savannah  produced.  A 
little  concerted  action  on  their  part  could  therefore,  at  any 
moment,  prevent  a  single  ship-load  of  produce  quitting  the 
river.  This  action  was  taken.  A  bill  was  hurried  through  the 
Legislature,  and  the  planters  informed  that  if  one  of  them 
should  refuse  to  take  paper  in  payment  for  his  rice,  not  a  sack  of 

*  New  York  Packet,  September,  1786. 


1786.  THE  PATRIOTIC  SOCIETY.  289 

it  should  be  suffered  to  leave  the  State.*  To  effect  this  no  prod 
uce  was  to  be  exported  from  any  part  of  Georgia  unless  a  sworn 
statement  was  produced,  signed  by  the  planter  and  the  mer 
chant,  that  neither  of  them  had  at  any  time  refused  to  take  the 
paper  money  of  the  State  at  the  value  expressed  upon  its  face.f 

Against  measures  such  as  these  Virginia  alone,  among  the 
States  south  of  the  Potomac,  stood  firm.  The  itch,  as  Madi 
son  called  it,  for  paper  money  had  never  very  seriously  afflict 
ed  the  people.  The  disorder  did  indeed  break  out,  and  rage 
quite  fiercely  toward  the  close  of  1786 ;  but  was  limited  to 
the  counties  of  Brunswick  and  Campbell.  From  each  of  them 
petitions  came  up  praying  for  a  paper  emission  to  be  a  legal 
tender  for  all  contracts  made  since  the  glorious  day  when  the 
ploughmen  of  Middlesex  drove  the  British  out  of  Lexington  and 
down  the  road  to  Boston.  But  when  a  bill  came  before  the 
House  of  Delegates  for  discussion,  almost  every  member  had 
something  to  say  against  it,  and,  when  the  vote  was  taken,  the 
Nays  had  it  by  a  crushing  majority  of  eighty-five  to  seventeen. ;): 

In  other  parts  of  Virginia  the  people  contented  themselves 
with  forming  societies  for  the  encouragement  of  economy  and 
home-trade.  One  such  sprang  up  in  the  four  counties  about 
Richmond,  and  numbered  among  its  members  all  the  first 
characters  of  the  place.  A  gentleman  whose  name  was  on  the 
roll  declared  one  aim  of  the  Patriotic  Society  to  be  to  instruct 
the  delegates.  Another  was  to  teach  the  people.  They  showed 
a  total  heedlessness  of  the  public  good.  This  came  not  so  much 
from  depravity  as  from  a  lack  of  knowledge.  The  members 
of  the  Patriotic  Society  purposed,  therefore,  to  meet,  talk  over 
matters  of  general  concern,  and  make  known  their  thoughts  to 
the  people  in  the  shape  of  instructions  to  the  delegates.  Should 
these  be  approved,  they  were  to  be  signed  and  sent  to  Richmond. 

To  the  political  duties  were  added  others  of  a  more  praise 
worthy  kind.  A  pledge  was  drawn  up  which  declared  the  pres- 

*  Boston  Gazette,  October  23,  1786. 

f  New  York  Gazetteer,  October  11,  1786. 

\  See  Journals  of  the  House  of  Delegates  of  Virginia,  session  of  1786,  pp.  15 
and  16.  The  strong  and  sensible  language  of  one  sentence  of  the  resolution 
passed  on  that  occasion  is  worth  quoting.  "  An  emission  of  paper  money  would 
be  unjust,  impolitic,  and  destructive  of  public  and  private  confidence,  and  of  that 
virtue  which  is  the  basis  of  republican  government." 
VOL.  i.— 20 


290      TPIE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  m. 

ent  embarrassments  could  be  honestly  and  thoroughly  reme 
died  in  no  other  way  than  by  a  spirited  exercise  of  industry, 
by  enlarging  the  productions  of  the  land,  and  by  practicing  a 
strict  frugality.  All  who  put  their  hands  to  this  pledge  bound 
themselves,  on  their  honor,  to  encourage  these  things  by  their 
example,  to  shun  dissipation,  and  to  give  a  warm  support  to 
any  plan  of  trade  the  fruits  of  which  should  go  to  their  coun 
trymen.  Prizes  were  also  offered  for  the  most  useful  discov 
ery  in  farming,  and  for  the  best  method  of  fencing  to  save 
timber.* 

In  New  York  the  paper  party  had,  for  a  year  past,  been 
steadily  growing  in  numbers,  had  gained  many  seats  at  the 
late  election,  and,  believing  themselves  strong  enough  to  carry 
their  measures,  brought  in  a  bill.  This  at  once  led  to  a  violent 
opposition,  and  split  the  State  into  two  parties.  On  the  one 
side  were  the  importers,  the  holders  of  stock,  the  speculators  in 
cash,  as  they  were  called,  the  moneyed  men,  and  the  great  body 
of  creditors,  who,  having  made  their  advances  on  a  specie  basis, 
were  determined  to  take  nothing  but  specie  in  return.  These 
put  as  good  a  face  on  the  matter  as  possible,  and  went  about 
assuring  their  friends  that  scarcity  of  cash  was  a  mere  fiction. 
It  had  been  the  cry  of  idle  and  extravagant  fellows  in  all  ages. 
That  there  really  was  a  circulating  medium  in  the  country,  no 
more  convincing  proof  was  wanted  than  the  state  of  the  mar 
ket.  Any  one  having  a  bushel  of  rye,  or  a  bushel  of  wheat,  or 
a  bushel  of  corn,  or,  in  truth,  any  kind  of  produce,  had  merely 
to  carry  it  to  the  Bear  Market  to  receive,  in  cash,  as  much  for 
it  as  in  days  before  the  war.  If  some  men  found  themselves 
unable  to  pay  their  debts,  it  was  because  of  idleness  or  profu 
sion.  But  taking  up  money  of  the  State  on  loan  was  a  delu 
sion.  It  afforded,  at  best,  but  a  temporary  relief ;  put  off  the 
evil  day  for  a  year  or  two,  and  then  left  them  deeper  than  ever 
in  debt.  The  injuries  suffered  so  recently  by  the  depreciation 
of  a  paper  currency  would  surely  make  men  loath  to  take  it. 
And  if  it  were  not  freely  taken,  it  would  depreciate ;  and  de- 


*  See  New  York  Packet,  November  17,1786;  American  Museum,  August, 
1787,  p.  166  ;  Letters  of  Buslirod  Washington  to  George  Washington,  September 
27  and  October  31,  1786;  George  Washington  to  Bushrod  Washington,  Septem 
ber  30  and  November  15,  1786;  Washington's  Writings,  vol.  ix. 


1786.  PAPER  MONEY  IN  NEW  .YORK.  291 

preciation  could  only  be  prevented  by  making  it  a  tender,  and 
to  make  it  a  legal  tender  would  be  cruel.* 

With  the  friends  of  the  emission  were  the  shopkeepers  in 
the  great  towns,  the  merchants  in  the  country  villages,  manu 
facturers,  and  debtors.  The  arguments  which  these  advanced 
were  that,  by  the  ravages  of  war,  the  depreciation  of  the  con 
tinental  money,  and  a  long  train  of  unavoidable  misfortunes, 
numbers  of  the  most  industrious  and  frugal  citizens  had  be 
come  deeply  involved  in  debt.  There  might,  they  said,  be 
money  enough  at  the  Bear  Market  to  buy  a  few  bushels  of 
corn  or  rye,  yet  this  fact  was  very  far  from  proving  the  exist 
ence  of  a  circulating  medium.  Such  a  thing  did  not  exist. 
And  did  any  one  want  a  better  proof  than  that  lands  were  sold 
every  day,  at  sheriff's  vendue,  for  one  half  their  real  value  ? 
They  further  insisted  that  the  speculators  in  cash  were  taking 
advantage  of  the  distress  of  their  neighbors  to  reap  great  har 
vests.  That  they  were  lending  money  at  exorbitant  rates  of 
interest,  and  exacting  payment  the  moment  it  became  due. 
That  the  bank  was  a  nuisance.  Instead  of  affording  a  useful 
relief  to  the  mercantile  interests,  it  had  degenerated  to  a  scan 
dalous  scene  of  usury  and  extortion.  That,  if  paper  money 
were  emitted,  all  men  would  be  helped ;  that  the  ill  effects  of 
usury  would  be  stopped,  while  all  its  profits,  then  going  to  a 
combination  of  usurers,  would  be  enjoyed  by  the  State. 

Both  parties  betook  themselves  to  a  newspaper  and  pam 
phlet  war.  Most  of  the  papers  were  by  anonymous  hands. 
Yet  the  names  of  the  writers  were  no  secrets.  One  dreamer, 
who  called  himself  PIonestus,f  filled  several  columns  of  the 
Packet  with  a  plea  for  paper  money,  and  the  abolition  of  the 
bank,  which  was  to  his  mind  the  cause  of  all  the  trouble.  An 
other,  who  wrote  on  the  same  side  and  subscribed  himself  A 
Spartan,  ironically  recommended  that  the  best  thing  to  be  done 
was  to  do  away  with  money  and  go  back  to  barter.  Copy, 
Baid  he,  the  laudable  example  of  Lycurgus.  Banish  money, 
and  with  it  all  the  evils  of  which  money  is  the  root.  Let  bar 
ter,  the  first  and  simplest  mode  of  dealing,  be  once  more  estab 
lished.  Then  truly  will  men  be  industrious.  Then  will  the 

*  See  a  paper  by  A  Citizen  of  Dutchess  County,  in  the  New  York  Packet  for 
March  6,  1786.  f  New  York  Packet,  March  27,  1786. 


202      T11K  LOW  STATIC  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.   riiAp.  in. 

streets  bo  crowded.  Then  will  the  carters  and  porters  meet 
with  full  employment.  Nay,  even  people  of  the  hotter  class 
will  he  seen  lugging  pieces  of  furniture  to  exchange  for  bar- 
rels  of  Hour  or  pail's  of  shoes.* 

Hut  of  all  the  papers  the  excitement  called  forth,  the  two 
most  widely  rend  were  a  pamphlet  by  Thomas  Paine  and  a  peti 
tion  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  to  the  Legislature.  The 
stirring  words  of  "Common  Sense"  and  the  "Crisis"  were  still 
so  fresh  in  the  minds  of  men  that  anything  hy  the  same  hand 
was  read  with  consideration  and  delight.  Nor  would  it  he  easy 
to  tind  among  the  many  pamphlets  hy  the  author  of  "Com 
mon  Sense"  one  more  distinguished  for  common  sense  than  his 
little  tract  on  paper  currency.  lie  began  with  the  observation 
that  he  remembered  to  have  once  heard  a  (ierman  farmer  say 
in  a  few  words  about  as  much  as  the  subject  required  :  "  Money 
is  monev,  and  paper  is  paper."')*  All  the  inventions  of  man, 
said  he,  cannot  make  it  otherwise.  If  paper  can  be  metamor 
phosed  into  gold  and  silver,  or  made  to  answer  the  same  pur 
poses  with  all  men,  then  it  is  time  for  the  alchemist,  to  cease 
his  labors,  and  for  the  hunter  after  the  philosopher's  stone  to 
go  to  rest.  (iold  and  silver  are  the  emissions  of  nature.  Paper 
is  the  emission  of  art.  The  value  of  gold  and  silver  is  ascer 
tained  by  the  quantity  which  nature  has  made  in  the  earth. 
The  fact  that  these  metals  wore-  stamped  into  coin  added  much 
to  their  convenience,  but  nothing  to  their  value.  Their  worth 
was  in  the  metal;  not  in  the  stamp,  (told,  again,  had  all  the 
requisites  of  monev.  Paper  had  none  of  them.  Paper  was  too 
plentiful,  too  easily  got  at.  The  only  use  it  should  be  put  to 
for  money  purposes  was  to  write  notes  and  obligations  on  to  pay 
in  coin.  Hut  when  an  Assembly  undertook  to  issue  paper  <w 
monev,  all  safetv  and  eertaintv  were  overturned  and  property 
set  atloat.  Of  the  many  sorts  of  base  currency,  the  basest  was 
paper.  It  had  least  intrinsic  value  of  anything  that  could  be 
put  in  place  of  specie.  A  hob-nail  or  a  piece  of  wampum  from 
the  Indians  far  exceeded  it.  To  suppose,  therefore,  that  the 
breath  of  an  Assembly  whoso  authority  expired  in  a  year  could 

*  Now  York  Paeket.  rVbruary  Ifl.  l7St». 

f  Dissertations  on   Uoveriuuent  ;  the  Affairs  of  the  Hunk,  ami  Paper  Money. 
l>y  the  author  of  Common  l^ense,  p.  -13. 


1786.  NEW  JERSEY  ISSUES  PAPER.  203 

give  to  paper  the  value  and  duration  of  gold,  was  absurd.  In 
deed,  it  was  utterly  beyond  the  power  of  the  Legislature  to 
engage  that  the  very  next  one  would  not  refuse  to  take  their 
money  for  taxes.  As  for  a  Legal-tender  Act,  any  member  who 
moved  such  a  thing  ought  to  be  punished  with  death. 

The  petition  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  came  out  late 
in  February.  In  tone  it  was  not  unlike  the  many  similar  in 
struments  which  that  vigilant  corporation  had  from  time  to 
time  laid  before  the  Assembly.  It  shared  also  the  usual  fate.* 

But  pamphlets,  petitions,  remonstrances,  were  alike  in  vain. 
The  paper  men  stood  tirm.  The  bill  was  carried.  The  Gov 
ernor  set  his  hand  and  seal  to  it,  and  an  emission  to  the  amount 
of  two  hundred  thousand  pounds  York  money  came  out.  Eight 
shillings  made  a  dollar.  The  issue  was  therefore  believed  to  be 
equal  to  five  hundred  thousand  Spanish  milled  dollars.  Some 
thing,  indeed,  was  gained  by  the  opposition.  For  the  money 
was  made  a  legal  tender  in  suits  only,  and  was  loaned  to  none 
who  could  not  furnish  excellent  security. 

Late  in  July  the  notes  began  to  come  from  the  press.  The 
rush  for  them  was  not  so  great  as  had  been  expected.  Many 
who  had  been  clamorous  for  the  money  a  few  months  before 
held  back  that  they  might  see  what  kind  of  a  reception  would 
be  given  it.  In  this  extremity  a  few  men  of  means  determined 
to  make  a  public  showing  of  their  implicit  faith  in  the  bills. 
For  several  days,  therefore,  after  the  lirst  issue,  they  went 
about  among  the  inns  and  taverns  of  the  city  at  the  hour  when 
the  company  was  the  most  numerous,  threw  down  upon  the 
counters  handfuls  of  shillings  and  Spanish  bits,  and  asked  to 
have  them  exchanged  for  the  light  and  portable  money  of  the 
State.  Everywhere  they  found  ready  takers,  and,  ere  the  week 
was  ended,  coin  to  a  considerable  amount  had  in  this  way 
been  exchanged  for  paper,  f 

New  Jersey,  in  the  mean  time,  had  put  out  thirty  thousand 
pounds  in  paper,  had  made  seven  shillings  sixpence  a  dollar, 
and  had  declared  it  to  be  a  legal  tender.  An  additional  hun 
dred  thousand  pounds  soon  followed.  In  that  State  a  whole 
some  dread  of  popular  associations  long  stilled  any  open  dis- 


*  New  York  racket,  March  6,  1780. 

f  New  York  Gazetteer  and  Country  Journal,  July  28,  1780. 


294:      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  IIL 

crimination  between  the  paper  and  coin.*  But  much  of  the 
trade  of  New  Jersey  was  then  carried  on  at  Philadelphia  and 
New  York.  Large  sums  in  the  new  paper  were  therefore  soon 
offered  at  these  cities  in  payment  of  debts.  But,  as  the  mer 
chants  were  in  no  fear  of  the  clamor  of  angry  Jerseymen, 
they  refused  it  as  a  legal  tender,  depreciation  began  at  once, 
and,  before  the  end  of  the  year,  had  spread  to  New  Jersey. 

While  State  after  State  was  thus  printing  money  to  satisfy 
the  cry  of  the  multitude  that  they  had  no  circulating  medium, 
an  event  happened  in  New  England  which  filled  the  whole 
country  with  mortification  and  rage.  Late  in  the  summer  the 
bark  Mary  Barnard  had  set  sail  from  Boston,  and,  after  a 
month's  voyage,  had  reached  the  port  of  London.  The  Eng 
lish  papers  had  mentioned  the  arrival,  and  had  noticed  with 
delight,  as  one  of  many  signs  of  the  prosperous  trade  the  home 
merchants  were  doing  with  America  without  a  treaty  of  com 
merce,  that  the  ship  was  fairly  loaded  down  with  specie.  No 
such  cargo  had  come  over  from  the  States  for  twelve  years 
past.  She  brought,  it  was  said,  forty-six  thousand  one  hun 
dred  and  twenty-five  dollars ;  twelve  hundred  and  twenty-nine 
joes ;  one  hundred  and  ten  half -joes ;  eight  hundred  and  six 
crowns ;  two  thousand  and  eighty-seven  guineas ;  eighty-five 
pistoles ;  two  hundred  and  sixty-four  dollars  in  silver ;  one 
moidore,  and  five  hundred  and  fifty-six  ounces  of  gold.  But 
on  this  side  of  the  water  there  was  thought  to  be  little  cause 
for  rejoicing.  Men  who  had  not  so  much  as  seen  a  half  dozen 
guineas,  or  joes,  or  moidores  for  a  year  past,  stood  aghast  at 

*  See  a  letter  from  Madison  to  Jefferson,  August  12,  1786.  It  seems  scarce 
worth  while  to  give  a  list  of  the  innumerable  papers  and  pamphlets  which  came 
out  on  the  subject  of  paper  money  during  the  year  1786.  A  few  of  the  best  of 
them  are :  The  True  Interest  of  the  United  States,  and  particularly  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  Considered  ;  Extracts  from  an  Address  to  the  Representatives  of  the  People 
of  Virginia ;  Queries  and  Replies  Relative  to  Paper  Money,  by  Z. ;  Essay  on  Paper 
Money,  by  An  Old  Soldier ;  Thoughts  on  Paper  Money,  by  Nestor ;  Paper  Money 
Advocated,  by  a  Branch  of  the  House  of  Shandy  ;  Essay  on  Money,  as  a  Medium 
of  Commerce:  with  Remarks  on  the  Advantages  and  Disadvantages  of  Paper 
admitted  into  General  Circulation,  by  a  Citizen  of  the  United  States,  1786 ;  The 
Primitive  Whig;  New  Jersey  Gazette,  January,  1786,  five  numbers ;  Pelatiah  Web 
ster's  Free  Trade  and  Finance ;  Letters  from  Sylvius  to  the  Freemen  Inhabitants 
of  the  United  States,  Containing  some  Remarks  on  Scarcity  of  Money,  Paper  Cur 
rency,  etc.,  1787. 


1786.         COTTON   AND   WOOLLEN  MANUFACTURES.  295 

the  news.  "What  a  sum  to  go  out  in  hard  money,  said  they, 
from  a  place  which  has  for  above  a  year  suffered  the  most  in 
convenience  from  being  drained  of  that  article !  Can  it  be 
that  New  England,  which  had  just  cause  to  raise  the  first  cry 
against  the  importation  of  British  goods ;  that  New  England, 
where  men  and  women  formed  societies  for  the  promotion  of 
American  manufactures ;  that  that  small  part  of  America 
which  in  reality  employs  a  greater  number  of  manufacturers 
than  all  the  rest  of  the  continent  put  together,  has  sent  out 
such  a  treasure  for  British  gewgaws  ?  The  vulgar  cry  had 
long  been,  Encourage  home  manufactures,  discourage  impor 
tation.  Yet  here  was  New  England,  doing  the  most  manu 
facturing  and  having  the  least  cash  of  any  of  the  thirteen 
States,  exporting  the  most  money.*  And  this  anomaly  was 
quickly  seized  upon  by  the  grumblers.  Those  who  had  lands 
for  sale,  or  looked  with  distrust  on  the  growing  favor  of  manu 
factures,  asserted  that  he  who  expected  that  mills  and  factories 
would  import  money  looked  no  further  than  his  nose.  The 
only  way  to  bring  in  money  was  to  cover  the  earth  with  corn 
and  with  rye,  with  acres  of  wheat  and  with  fields  of  flax. 
Then,  when  the  harvest  was  over,  a  triumphant  fleet  of  ships 
would  sail  from  every  port,  and  would  in  a  few  months  come 
home  heavily  laden  with  gold.  Others  contented  themselves 
with  alluring  pictures  of  the  happiness  of  the  farmer,  contrast 
ing  the  low  of  cattle  and  the  bleat  of  lambs  with  the  din  of 
mills  and  factories,  the  pure  air  and  the  green  fields  with  the 
stench  that  rose  from  the  docks,  and  with  the  crowds  that  stood 
upon  'Change. 

It  is  a  significant  fact,  however, 'that  while  half  the  country 
was  indulging  in  language  such  as  this,  New  England  had 
already  begun  that  splendid  line  of  manufactures  \vhich,  in  the 
course  of  two  generations,  grew  rapidly  to  astonishing  propor 
tions,  covered  her  streams  and  rivers  with  workshops  and  fac 
tories,  built  up  new  towns  more  populous  and  opulent  than  the 
old,  and,  among  many  substantial  benefits,  gave  to  the  world 
that  innumerable  host  of  articles  which,  under  the  name  of 
Yankee  notions,  are  now  to  be  found  in  the  markets  of  every 
people.  The  humble  beginning  of  so  much  prosperity  was  in 

*  New  York  Packet,  October  16,  1786. 


296      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  m. 

the  manufacture  of  cotton  and  woollen  cloths.  At  last  patterns 
had  been  obtained,  and  rude  models  set  up,  of  the  Arkwright 
machines.  More  than  eighteen  years  before  Arkwright  had 
made  known  his  spinning-jenny.  Since  that  time  it  had  been 
wonderfully  improved,  and  had  become,  with  the  machines  oi 
Compton  and  Cartwright,  the  marvel  and  envy  of  the  world. 
It  was  indeed  with  this  at  first  as  with  every  great  invention, 
from  the  alphabet  to  the  printing-press,  from  the  printing-press 
to  the  railroad,  from  the  railroad  to  the  telegraph.  It  was 
bitterly  opposed.  The  jennies  were  long  operated  in  secret. 
The  life  of  the  inventor  was  threatened.  On  more  than  one 
occasion  the  machines  were  broken  to  pieces  by  an  angry  mob. 
But,  in  spite  of  threats  and  violence,  they  began  to  multi 
ply.  It  was  soon  discovered  that  the  spinning  done  by  hand 
was  inferior  in  quality  to  the  spinning  done  by  the  jenny; 
and  Arkwright,  whom  hundreds  of  men  could  remember  as  a 
raw  lad  wandering  over  the  heaths  persuading  the  peasant-girls 
to  sell  their  hair,  was  raised  to  the  dignity  of  knighthood. 
Then  a  complete  revolution  took  place.  The  same  men  who  a 
few  years  before  denounced  the  jenny  as  an  impious  thing, 
and  the  inventor  as  a  man  who  richly  deserved  a  halter  and 
might  possibly  get  his  deserts,  soon  clamored  that  not  a  ma 
chine  should,  on  any  account,  be  suffered  to  leave  the  king 
dom.  The  year  after  the  Boston  tea  party,  Parliament,  ac 
cordingly,  forbade  that  any  drawings,  models,  or  memoranda 
of  any  machine  used  in  the  manufacture  of  textile  fabrics 
should  leave  the  realm.  Some  attempts  were  made  a  few  months 
later  to  carry  models  of  the  jennies  to  Germany,  and  also  to 
France.  But  it  was  not  till  peace  had  been  restored  that  any 
effort  was  put  forth  to  bring  them  to  America.  It  was  at  that 
time  quite  fashionable  for  men  of  wealth  and  leisure  to  form 
themselves  into  societies  for  the  encouragement  of  whatever 
they  had  most  at  heart.  Societies  for  the  encouragement  of 
manufactures,  societies  for  the  promotion  of  agriculture,  so 
cieties  for  the  furthering  of  arts  and  sciences  began  to  spring 
up  in  every  great  city.  But  the  most  active  among  them  was 
at  Philadelphia,  and  the  most  active  of  all  its  members  was 
Tench  Coxe.  No  man  deserves  better  than  he  to  be  called  the 
father  of  the  American  cotton  industries.  At  a  time  when  the 


1787.  TENCH  COXE.  297 

plant  was  rarely  seen  outside  of  a  flower-garden,  when  the  cus 
tom-house  officers  at  Liverpool  denied  that  all  America  could 
produce  six  hundred  pounds,  he  plainly  told  his  countrymen 
that  cotton  would  one  day  be  the  source  of  their  wealth  and 
their  power.*  He  stood  up  before  the  Federal  Convention 
and  begged  southern  delegates  to  go  home  and  urge  their  peo 
ple  to  cultivate  it.  He  bitterly  opposed  the  article  of  Jay's 
treaty  which  forbade  the  export  of  cotton  for  twenty-five  years. 
Nor  did  he,  to  the  end  of  a  long  and  eventful  life,  grow  cool 
in  the  encouragement  of  his  favorite  industry.  ~No  sooner  was 
the  war  ended  than  he  set  his  heart  on  obtaining  a  series  of  the 
Arkwright  machines.  An  agent  was  procured  in  England  to 
undertake  the  matter  under  promise  of  a  large  reward,  and  a 
full  set  of  models  was  made  in  brass.  But  the  work  could 
not  long  be  kept  a  secret.  In  ITS 6,  upon  the  very  eve  of  ship 
ment,  the  pieces  were  seized. 

Help,  however,  came  from  another  quarter.  Scarcely  had 
the  English  Government  laid  hold  of  the  models  of  Coxe  than 
Hugh  Orr,  of  Bridgewater,  sent  up  a  notice  to  the  General 
Court  of  Massachusetts.  He  had,  he  said,  in  his  employ  two 
Scotchmen  by  the  name  of  Barr  who  had  some  knowledge  of 
cotton-spinning  machines.  The  news  was  received  with  de 
light.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  examine  the  two  Barrs, 
to  find  out  what  they  knew,  and  to  report  with  all  speed  to  the 
Legislature.  The  report  is  still  extant,  and  recommends  that 
two  hundred  pounds  sterling  be  granted  to  'the  men  to  com 
plete  certain  machines,  and  to  reward  them  for  their  public 
spirit.  So  great  a  sum  was  not  then  to  be  spared  from  the 
Treasury.  Six  tickets  in  a  State  Land  Lottery  which  had  no 
blanks  were  therefore  voted  to  the  Barrs,  and  out  of  the 
money  they  drew  the  first  stock-card  and  spinning-jenny  in  the 
United  States  were  made. 

But  while  these  were  making,  another  petition  came  up  to 
the  General  Court  from  William  Somers.  He  was,  he  said,  a 
member  of  a  Baltimore  society  for  the  encouragement  of  agri 
culture.  He  had  been  brought  up  to  the  manufacture  of  cot 
ton,  and  knew  how  to  adapt  the  thread  for  weaving  dimities, 

*  See  An  Address  to  an  Assembly  of  the  Friends  of  American  Manufactures, 
by  Tench  Coxe,  Esq.,  reprinted  in  American  Museum  for  September,  1787. 


298      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  m. 

plain  and  checked  muslins,  calicoes,  jeans,  and  jeannettes.  In 
deed,  he  had,  at  his  own  risk  and  expense,  gone  to  England,  had 
studied  the  machines  for  carding  and  spinning  wool,  and  had, 
after  much  difficulty,  brought  back  models  and  descriptions  to 
Baltimore.  But  at  Baltimore  he  had  found  nothing  to  do,  had 
set  out  for  Boston,  and  had,  upon  the  way,  lost  much  of  his 
property.  He  now  sought  help  of  the  Legislature.  So  prom 
ising  a  petition  was  not  to  be  thrown  out,  and  twenty  pounds 
were  accordingly  placed  in  the  hands  of  Orr  for  the  encourage 
ment  of  Somers.  In  a  short  time  a  rude  model  of  an  Ark- 
wright  machine  was  completed  and  exhibited  under  the  name  of 
the  State's  Model,  with  the  spinning- jenny  made  by  the  Barrs. 
These  were  confided  to  the  care  of  Orr,  and,  as  a  reward  for 
his  pains,  full  permission  was  given  him  to  use  them.  He  was, 
however,  at  the  same  time  strictly  enjoined  to  show  the  ma 
chines  to  all  whom  interest  or  curiosity  prompted  to  come  and 
examine.  Many  gladly  availed  themselves  of  the  chance,  and 
before  long  rude  imitations  of  them  were  set  up  at  Worcester, 
at  Beverly,  and  at  Providence.  It  was  not,  however,  till 
Washington  had  been  one  year  President  that  Samuel  Slater 
put  up  in  the  workshops  of  Almy  &  Brown  the  first  series  of 
machines  worthy  to  be  called  copies  of  the  famous  inventions 
of  Arkwright.* 

Thus,  while  the  ignorant  rabble  of  Massachusetts  were 
loudly  declaiming  against  the  evils  of  trade  and  manufacture, 
a  few  clear  heads  were  founding  that  lucrative  branch  of  manu 
facture  which  now  in  the  same  State  gives  employment  to 
more  men  and  women  than  could  a  hundred  years  ago  be 
found  in  the  two  great  cities  of  Boston  and  J^ew  York  added 
together,  and  consumes  each  year  in  wages  a  sum  more  than 
sufficient  to  have  paid  off  the  national  debt.f  But  it  was  not 
in  the  line  of  cotton  goods  alone  that  a  beginning  was  made. 
Other  manufactures  were  not  suffered  to  languish.  Indeed, 
when  in  the  following  year  Tench  Coxe  made  his  address  be- 

*  An  entertaining  account  of  the  rise  of  American  manufactures  is  to  be  found 
in  Bishop's  History  of  American  Manufactures,  vols.  i  and  ii ;  and  in  White's 
Memoirs  of  Samuel  Slater. 

f  The  census  of  1880  gives  the  number  of  hands  employed  in  the  cotton-mills 
of  Massachusetts  as  62,794.  For  the  six  New  England  States  the  figures  are 
129,2*8. 


1786.  TROUBLES  IN  MASSACHUSETTS.  299 

fore  the  Pennsylvania  Society  for  the  Encouragement  of  Agri 
culture,  he  told  his  hearers  many  things  on  this  subject  which 
they  were  loath  to  believe.  How  that  Massachusetts  made 
such  quantities  of  linen  that  the  price  had  gone  down  from 
New  York  to  Georgia ;  how  that  the  importation  of  English 
goods  had  fallen  off  to  one  half  what  it  had  been  twenty  years 
before ;  how  that  there  were  in  one  factory  as  many  as  ten 
thousand  pairs  of  cotton  and  woollen  cards  ;  in  another  a  hun 
dred  tons  of  nails,  and  in  the  town  of  Lynn  a  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  pairs  of  stuff  and  silk  shoes ;  and  how,  with  a 
population  of  four  thousand  five  hundred,  Ipswich  had  in  a 
year  produced  forty-two  thousand  yards  of  silk  lace  and  edg 
ings.  He  then  delighted  the  women  of  his  audience  by  show 
ing  them  thirty-six  specimens  of  Ipswich  trimmings. 

Astonishing  as  all  this  was  to  many  who  listened  to  the  ora 
tion  of  Coxe,  the  internal  affairs  of  Massachusetts  gave,  in  the 
autumn  of  1Y86,  little  promise  of  the  opulence  and  prosperity 
of  the  future.  The  State  was  just  then  passing  through  one 
of  those  periods  of  gloom  which  so  often  in  the  lifetime,  both 
of  individuals  and  of  nations,  follow,  and  go  before,  periods  of 
great  prosperity.  The  evil  consequences  of  the  war  were  every 
where  making  themselves  keenly  felt.  The  year  in  all  the 
States  was  one  of  unusual  distress.  The  crops  had  indeed  been 
good.  In  many  places  the  yield  had  been  great.  Yet  the 
farmers  murmured,  and  not  without  cause,  that  their  wheat  and 
their  corn  were  of  no  more  use  to  them  than  so  many  bushels 
of  stones.  That  produce  rotted  on  their  hands.  That  while 
their  barns  were  overflowing,  their  pockets  were  empty.  That 
when  they  wanted  clothes  for  their  families  they  were  com 
pelled  to  run  from  village  to  village  to  find  a  cobbler  who 
would  take  wheat  for  shoes,  and  a  trader  who  would  give  ever 
lasting  in  exchange  for  pumpkins.  Money  became  scarcer  and 
scarcer  every  week.  In  the  great  towns  the  lack  of  it  was 
severely  felt.  But  in  the  country-places  it  was  with  difficulty 
that  a  few  pistareens  and  coppers  could  be  scraped  together 
toward  paying  the  State's  quota  of  the  interest  on  the  national 
debt. 

The  cause  of  so  much  misery,  and  the  cure,  are  to  us  as  we 
look  back,  quite  apparent.  Yet  it  is  highly  interesting  to  re- 


300      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  m. 

call  to  what  our  ancestors  in  their  day  attributed  the  malady 
which  afflicted  the  body  politic,  and  with  what  dangerous 
remedies  they  sought  to  destroy  it.  Every  man  who  then  fre 
quented  the  taverns  of  an  evening,  or  attended  the  town  con 
ventions  got  up  by  the  malcontents,  was  accustomed  to  hear 
the  troubles  accounted  for  by  a  system  of  reasoning  which  was 
a  singular  compound  of  truth  and  absurdity. 

By  the  best  computation  that  can  now  be  made,  the  private 
debts  in  the  State  summed  up  to  at  least  one  million  three  hun 
dred  thousand  pounds  sterling.  There  were,  besides,  two  hun 
dred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds  due  to  the  soldiers  of  the  late 
army,  and  one  million  five  hundred  thousand  more  as  the 
State's  proportion  of  the  Federal  debt.  The  law  required  that 
one  third  of  this  last  should  be  raised  by  taxes  on  the  ratable 
polls.  And  the  ratable  polls  did  not  reach  ninety  thousand  in 
number.  The  burden  of  three  millions  of  pounds  sterling 
would,  in  the  best  of  times,  in  a  commonwealth  not  numbering 
three  hundred  and  seventy-nine  thousand  souls  all  told,  have 
been  a  heavy  one.*  But  it  was  to  be  borne  by  men  destitute 
of  ships  and  commerce,  without  manufactures  and  without 
agriculture.  Governor  Bowdoin  had,  in  a  message  to  the  Gen 
era!  Court  in  1785,  urged  as  a  remedy  that  farmers  in  the  inte 
rior  towns  where  there  was  much  wood  to  be  cleared  away, 
should  devote  themselves  to  the  production  of  pot-  and  pearl- 
ashes.  That  the  ashes  should  be  deposited  with  an  agent  of  the 
State,  should  be  sold  by  him,  and  the  money  used  to  pay  the 
taxes  of  the  men  who  brought  them.  But  the  advice  was  never 
taken.  Why  indeed  should  the  farmers  rise  up  early  and  lie 
down  late  that  they  might  pay  taxes  unjustly  put  upon  them  ? 
Every  man  who  knew  anything  knew  that  trade  and  the  mer 
chants  were  at  the  bottom  of  this  ruinous  taxation.  The  duty 
of  meeting  it  should  therefore  be  thrown  on  commerce  and 
not  on  agriculture.  It  was  doubtful  whether  trade  could  bear 
the  load.  But  in  any  case  good  only  could  come  of  such  a 
measure.  If  commerce  did  support  the  weight  of  taxes,  the 
commonwealth  would  be  greatly  eased.  If  commerce  went 
down  under  the  pressure,  the  commonwealth  would  still  be  the 

*  The  population  of  Massachusetts,  by  the  census  of  1790,  was  ascertained  to 
be  378,787.  This  does  not  include  Maine. 


1786.  THE  MERCHANTS  FOUND  FAULT   WITH.  301 

gainer,  for  it  would  then  be  rid  of  a  prolific  source  of  evil. 
The  merchants,  "the  malcontents  asserted,  had  grown  rich  on  the 
great  gains  of  traffic,  and  now  vied  with  each  other  in  luxury 
and  display.  This  was  foolishly  imitated  by  the  less  opulent, 
who,  drawn  away  from  those  principles  of  industry  and  frugality 
which  are  the  best  prop  of  a  republican  government,  manifested 
a  taste  for  foreign  trumpery.  This  market  the  importers  had 
determined  to  supply.  Their  credit  was  sound,  and  they  had, 
therefore,  most  rashly  bought  more  goods  than  could  either  be 
used  or  paid  for.  Bad  as  this  was,  the  evil  had  been  greatly 
aggravated  by  the  decayed  condition  of  commerce,  and  the 
little  attention  which  had  been  given  to  producing  articles  of 
export.  In  nothing,  it  was  said,  was  negligence  so  apparent 
and  the  results  so  disastrous  as  in  the  fisheries  which  might 
well  be  called  the  gold-mines  of  Massachusetts.  The  whale- 
fishery  in  particular  was  a  constant  source  of  complaint  with 
men  who  were  never  weary  of  contrasting  its  ruinous  condition 
in  1T86  with  its  prosperous  condition  in  1776.  From  con 
temptible  beginnings  in  1Y01,  it  had,  they  said,  in  three  quar 
ters  of  a  century,  grown  to  such  dimensions  that  JSTantucket 
alone  poured  into  the  State  each  year  one  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  pounds  sterling,  employed  a  fleet  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  sail  and  twenty-five  hundred  seamen.  But  this  magnifi 
cent  navy  was  no  more.  Some  of  the  seamen  had  found  ser 
vice  in  foreign  lands.  Others,  from  sheer  hunger,  had  laid  aside 
the  harpoon  and  were  fast  becoming  cobblers.  In  this  and  in 
like  ways  the  articles  once  sent  out  as  remittances  were  no 
longer  to  be  had,  and  nothing  but  specie  was  left  wherewith  to 
satisfy  the  demands  of  importation.  But  America  had  110  gold 
mines  from  which  to  supply  the  loss  of  so  much  coin ;  and,  as 
money  was  constantly  going  out  and  none  coming  in,  it  was 
merely  a  question  of  time  how  long  it  would  be  before  shillings 
and  joes  would  utterly  disappear,  and  men  be  compelled  to 
traffic  with  one  another  as  their  ancestors  had  with  the  Indians 
and  buy  meat  with  corn  and  bread  with  hatchets.  To  prevent 
matters  coming  to  such  a  pass  as  this,  either  of  two  things  must 
be  done.  Commerce  must  be  destroyed  and  the  outflow  of 
specie  stopped,  or  the  place  of  the  coin  carried  abroad  must  be 
filled  by  an  issue  of  paper. 


302      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  m. 

With  the  merchants,  in  the  condemnation  of  the  multitude, 
were  joined  the  lawyers.  Indeed,  of  the  two  classes,  the  mem 
bers  of  the  bar  were  the  more  hated  and  despised.  The  mere 
sight  of  a  lawyer  as  he  hurried  along  the  street  was  enough  to 
call  forth  an  oath  or  a  muttered  curse  from  the  louts  who  hung 
round  the  tavern.  The  reason  is  plain.  During  the  years  of 
the  war  the  administration  of  justice  had  been  almost  wholly 
suspended.  After  the  war,  debts  had  increased  to  a  frightful 
extent.  The  combination  of  these  two  circumstances  had  mul 
tiplied  civil  actions  to  a  number  that  seems  scarcely  credible. 
The  lawyers  were  overwhelmed  with  cases.  The  courts  could 
not  try  half  that  came  before  them.  For  every  man  who  had 
an  old  debt,  or  a  mortgage,  or  a  claim  against  a  Tory  or  a  refu 
gee,  hastened  to  have  it  adjusted.  While,  therefore,  every  one 
else  was  idle,  the  lawyers  were  busy,  and,  as  they  always  ex 
acted  a  retainer,  and  were  sure  to  obtain  their  fees,  grew  rich 
fast.  Every  young  man  became  an  attorney,  and  every  attor 
ney  did  well.  Such  prosperity  soon  marked  them  out  as  fit 
subjects  for  the  discontented  to  vent  their  anger  on.  They 
were  denounced  as  banditti,  as  blood-suckers,  as  pick-pockets,  as 
wind-bags,  as  smooth-tongued  rogues.  Those  who,  having  no 
cases,  had  little  cause  to  complain  of  the  lawyers,  murmured 
that  it  was  a  gross  outrage  to  tax  them  to  pay  for  the  sittings  of 
courts  into  which  they  never  had  brought  and  never  would 
bring  an  action. 

Meanwhile  the  newspapers  were  filled  with  inflammatory 
writings.*  The  burdens  that  afflicted  the  State  were  attributed 
to  the  attorneys.  One  paper  repeatedly  insisted  that  this  class 
of  men  should  be  abolished.  Another  called  upon  the  electors 
to  leave  them  out  of  office,  and  to  bid  their  representatives 
annihilate  them.  The  advice  was  largely  followed.  In  al 
most  every  country  town  a  knowledge  of  the  law  was  held  to 
be  the  best  reason  in  the  world  why  a  man  should  not  be  made 
a  legislator.  But  nowhere  was  this  feeling  stronger  than  in  the 
capital.  In  the  representation  of  Boston  was  one  place  which 
her  citizens  had  for  many  years  past  delighted  to  bestow  on 
men  whom  eloquence  and  learning  had  raised  to  the  first  rank 

*  The  most  celebrated  of  these  were  the  papers  which  appeared  over  the  name 
Honestus.     See,  also,  Boston  Gazettes  for  March  27  and  May  1,  1786. 


1786.  COMPLAINTS  AGAINST   THE  LAWYERS.  303 

\ 

at  the  bar.  That  place  had  been  successively  filled  by  Pratt, 
by  Thatcher,  by  Otis,  and  by  Adams.  It  was  now  given  to  a 
man  of  a  less  hateful  calling. 

This  folly  was  combated  with  ridicule.  One  writer  re 
marked  that  it  was  truly  laughable  to  hear  his  townsmen 
gravely  voting  that  the  lawyers  were  a  grievance.  Did  not 
every  man  of  sense  know  they  were  a  result,  not  a  cause,  of 
public  evils?  They  grew  out  of  laziness,  out  of  dilatoriness 
in  paying  debts,  out  of  breaches  of  contracts,  out,  in  short,  of 
the  vices  of  the  people,  just  as  mushrooms  sprang  out  of 
dung-hills  after  a  shower,  or  distilleries  from  a  taste  for  New 
England  rum.  The  sober  and  frugal  Dutchmen  of  New  York 
had  no  use  for  lawyers.  Before  the  war  there  was,  in  the  whole 
of  Orange  county,  but  one  action  for  debt  tried  in  eighteen 
years.  The  industrious  Quakers  and  Germans  of  Pennsylvania 
had  no  use  for  lawyers.  A  tax-collector  never  called  upon 
them  twice.  They  had  no  grievances.  Neither  would  the 
New  England  man  when  he  learned  to  save.  Scarce  a  day 
went  by  but  a  farmer  might  be  seen  riding  into  town  with  a 
bushel  or  two  of  flaxseed.  Flaxseed  was  a  cash  article,  and 
cash  paid  taxes.  But  did  this  farmer  put  aside  his  cash  to  pay 
taxes  ?  Not  a  bit  of  it.  When  he  turned  homeward  his  sad 
dle-bags  would  be  found  full  of  coffee  and  his  stomach  of  rum. 
Another  would  bring  a  lamb  to  market.  Lambs  commanded 
cash,  and  cash  paid  taxes.  But  the  moment  the  worthy  coun 
tryman  got  his  cash  he  would  go,  not  to  the  collector,  but  to 
the  store  and  lay  down  five  shillings  for  a  feather.  If  these 
men,  every  time  they  got  a  shilling,  would  only  put  sixpence 
away,  they  would  soon  find  their  grievances  redressed  without 
the  trouble,  noise,  and  expense  of  town-meetings,  conventions, 
and  mobs.* 

In  this  state  of  the  popular  mind  the  Houses  met.  It  was 
evident  from  the  beginning  that  a  stormy  session  was  at  hand. 
For  many  of  the  members  were  new  men,  and  all  the  new  men 
were  zealous  in  the  cause  of  the  people.  One  of  the  first 
things  undertaken  was  a  redress  of  grievances.  Many  wild 
schemes  were  proposed,  warmly  debated,  and  at  last  a  bill  was 

*  On  Redress  of  Grievances.  By  an  Industrious  Man.  American  Museum, 
February,  1787. 


30i      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  m. 

passed  by  the  House  which  closely  affected  the  lawyers.  It 
was  believed  that  the  best  way  to  silence  the  clamor  on  this 
matter  was  to  throw  open  the  courts  to  all  persons  of  good 
character,  to  fix  the  fees  of  attorneys,  and  to  restrain  the  prac 
tice  of  champerty.  But  when  the  bill  in  form  was  sent  up  to 
the  Senate,  that  body,  disliking  it  and  dreading  a  conflict  with 
the  Assembly,  stoutly  refused  to  consider  it  before  the  recess. 
So  the  bill  went  over. 

The  next  struggle  was  over  the  paper-money  bill.  Seven 
towns  in  Bristol  county  had  sent  in  a  petition  for  the  issue  of  a 
paper  currency  on  a  plan  as  novel  as  it  was  dangerous.  The 
petitioners  were  well  aware  that  money  of  the  kind  they  so 
much  desired  was  almost  sure  to  depreciate,  and  must,  at  least, 
be  accompanied  with  a  promise  of  redemption.  To  avoid  these 
troublesome  peculiarities  they  had,  they  thought,  hit  upon  a 
most  happy  plan.  The  money  never  should  be  redeemed,  but 
should,  in  certain  given  times  and  at  fixed  rates,  depreciate  till 
the  entire  issue  was  extinguished.  The  petition  was,  to  the 
great  surprise  of  its  authors,  bitterly  assailed  on  every  side. 
Indeed,  when  a  trial  of  strength  was  made,  it  was  thrown  out 
by  a  great  majority,  the  Nays  mustering  ninety-nine  and  the 
Ayes  but  nineteen,  in  a  House  of  one  hundred  and  eighteen 
members. 

A  still  more  popular  bill,  making  real  and  personal  estate  a 
legal  tender,  soon  after  met  with  a  like  fate,  the  Nays  being 
eighty-nine  and  the  Ayes  thirty-five,  in  a  House  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty-four.  A  most  unpopular  bill  granting  supplement 
ary  funds  to  Congress  was,  however,  passed.  On  the  eighth 
of  July  the  Houses  rose. 

To  the  friends  of  good  order  the  session  had  been  most  en 
couraging.  But  the  malcontents  had,  by  the  loss  of  so  many 
measures  in  a  Legislature  from  which  they  had  expected  so  much, 
become  more  angry  and  noisy  than  ever.  They  had  no  longer 
any  faith  in  the  Senate,  and  but  little  in  the  House.  They  de 
termined  therefore  to  betake  themselves  to  the  old-fashioned 
way  of  stating  and  correcting  their  troubles.  County  and  town 
conventions  had  come  into  use  before  the  revolution,  and  had 
then  and  during  the  war  served  a  good  and  a  high  purpose. 
But,  like  many  other  good  things  when  out  of  time  and  place. 


1786.        THE  MALCONTENTS   CALL  A   CONVENTION.          305 

they  had  now  ceased  to  do  good,  and  had  begun  to  do  harm. 
From  being  a  support  to  constitutional  authority  they  had  com 
menced  to  wear  a  strong  appearance  of  opposition  to  constitu 
tional  authority.  Thus,  in  1784,  a  proposition  went  out  from 
the  towns  of  Medway  and  Wrentham  to  the  remaining  towns 
of  Suffolk  county  to  meet  in  convention  to  take  measures  for 
the  redress  of  the  grievances  of  commutation  and  the  impost. 
Not-  long  after,  the  town  of  Button  sent  a  similar  summons 
through  the  county  of  Worcester.  Yet  both  these  things  of 
which  they  complained  had  received  the  sanction  of  the  Legis 
lature.  In  later  times  the  proceedings  that  went  on  at  the 
county  conventions  were  even  more  unjustifiable.  They  cen 
sured  and  condemned  their  rulers.  They  voted  the  Senate  and 
the  courts  to  be  grievances,  addressed  the  people  in  language 
dangerous  at  any  time,  and  finally  attempted  to  set  up  a  body 
of  men  that  should  supplant  the  Legislature  itself.* 

No  sooner  had  the  Houses  adjourned  than  the  malcontents 
of  Hampshire  determined  to  call  a  convention.  They  did  so, 
and,  on  the  twenty-second  of  August,  delegates  from  fifty 
towns  were  assembled  at  Hatfield.  What  they  considered 
grievances  were  there  carefully  gone  over,  and  a  paper  drawn 
up  which  set  them  forth  in  twenty-five  articles.  They  began 
by  voting  themselves  to  be  a  constitutional  body,  and  de 
claring  that  they  detested  mobs  and  riots.  They  next  went 
on  to  condemn  the  Senate  for  being  what  every  Senate  ought 
to  be.  It  was,  they  said,  not  a  representative  body,  but  a  re- 

*  A  shrewd  observer  has  left  us  an  amusing  and  doubtless  just  description  of 
the  small  politicians  and  county  conventions  of  New  England.  "  When  a  meas 
ure,"  says  he,  speaking  of  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts,  "  has  been  there 
agitated  that  has  been  disagreeable  to  Individual  members — They  will  rise  and 
for  lack  of  argument  say,  Mr  Speaker,  this  measure  will  never  do— the  People, 
Sir,  will  never  bear  it.  The  particular  measure  is  determined  against  their  Opin 
ion,  these  Small  Politicians  returned  home  misrepresent  the  doings  of  the  Legis 
lature—tell  their  Constituents  such  and  such  measures  are  taking  place  altho'  I 
did  my  utmost  to  prevent  it.  The  People  must  take  care  of  themselves  or  they 
are  undone.  Stir  up  a  County  Convention,  and  by  Trumpeting  lies  from  Towne 
to  Towne  get  one  collected  and  consisting  of  Persons  of  small  Abilities — of  little 
or  no  property,  embarass'd  in  their  Circumstances — and  of  no  great  Integrity — 
and  these  Geniuses  vainly  conceiving  they  are  competent  to  regulate  the  affairs  of 
State— make  some  hasty  incoherent  Resolves,  and  these  end  in  Sedition,  Riot  & 
Rebellion."  See  a  letter  from  David  Sewall,  October  16,  1786,  in  the  Thatcher 
Papers,  Hist.  Magazine,  November,  1869. 
VOL.  i.— 21 


306       THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  m. 

straint  on  the  representative  body,  and  ought  therefore  speed 
ily  to  be  abolished.  The  Court  of  Common  Pleas  was  also 
unnecessary.  The  fees  of  the  judges  were  too  great.  The 
present  practice  of  the  attorneys  was  bad ;  they  had  an  undue 
influence  in  the  State,  and  were  growing  rich  at  the  expense  of 
the  poor.  The  use  of  the  impost  and  the  excise  for  the  pay 
ment  of  continental  taxes  and  notes  due  to  the  army  was  then 
denounced  in  severe  language,  the  mode  of  apportioning  taxes 
voted  to  be  iniquitous,  and  a  paper  medium  called  for.  After 
a  session  of  three  days  they  adjourned. 

However  sincere  the  delegates  may  have  been  in  the  asser 
tion  that  they  detested  mobs  and  riots,  events  soon  showed  that 
the  men  who  chose  them  held  no  such  doctrine.  On  the  last 
Tuesday  in  August,  1786,  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  was  to 
sit  at  Northampton,  for  the  county  of  Hampshire.  But  when 
the  judges  came  they  found  the  court-house  in  the  possession  of 
an  armed  mob  of  fifteen  hundred  men,  and  adjourned.  The 
news  spread  rapidly  through  the  counties  of  Worcester,  Middle 
sex,  Bristol,  and  Berkshire,  and  set  them  all  aflame.  Worces 
ter,  indeed,  had  been  the  first  to  act.  A  month  before  the 
Hatfield  convention  met  a  paper  was  carried  from  town  to 
town  through  the  county,  and  thousands  of  names  had  been 
put  to  it.*  By  this  instrument  the  subscribers  bound  them 
selves  to  prevent,  to  the  utmost  of  their  power,  the  sitting  of 
the  Inferior  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  the  county,  or  of  any 
other  court  that  should  attempt  to  take  property  by  distress. 
They  also  engaged  to  prevent  all  public  sale  of  goods  seized 
by  distress,  even  at  the  risk  of  their  lives  and  fortunes,  till  the 
grievances  were  legally  redressed.  And  they  kept  this  engage 
ment  most  faithfully. 

On  the  fifth  of  September  the  court  was  to  be  holden  at 
Worcester,  and  early  on  the  morning  of  that  day  a  hundred 
men  armed  with  old  swords  and  muskets,  and  as  many  more 
carrying  sticks  and  bludgeons,  drew  up  on  court-house  lull. 
After  some  delay,  the  judge,  accompanied  by  the  sheriff  and 
the  crier,  came  out  of  the  house  of  a  Mr.  Allen  and  started 
for  the  court.  As  he  went  on  the  crowd  divided  to  let  him 
pass ;  nor  was  any  opposition  made  to  him  till  he  reached  the 

*  New  York  Packet,  August  11,  1786. 


1786.          THE   SITTING  OF  THE   COURTS  STOPPED.  307 

steps  of  the  court-house.  There  five  men  with  muskets,  and 
one  with  a  sword,  were  drawn  up.  The  judge,  General  Arte- 
mas  Ward,  a  noted  revolutionary  soldier,  called  on  the  sheriff 
to  clear  the  way.  But  the  guards  instantly  drew  back  and 
opposed  him.  Meanwhile,  the  crier  broke  through  them  and 
opened  the  door.  The  judge  then  advanced,  but  was  quickly 
covered  by  the  muskets  of  the  five  sentries  at  the  door.  He 
turned  to  Wheeler,  who  commanded  the  men,  and  demanded 
to  know  who  their  leader  was.  But  he  was  not  answered. 
He  said  that  he  would  speak  of  their  grievances  to  the  proper 
authorities.  But  he  was  told  that  he  must  put  whatever  he  had 
to  say  in  writing.  This  he  stoutly  refused  to  do ;  yet  said,  if 
if  they  would  take  away  their  bayonets,  and  let  him  stand  on 
some  eminence  where  all  the  people  could  see  him,  he  would 
talk  to  them.  This  was  refused ;  and,  forgetting  himself,  he 
began  to  curse  and  to  swear.  "  He  did  not  give  a  damn,"  he 
said,  "  for  their  bayonets.  They  might,  if  they  liked,  plunge 
them  into  his  heart."  Then,  becoming  still  more  angry,  he 
stamped  his  foot  and  cried  out  that  he  would  do  his  duty,  and 
held  his  life  of  small  consequence  when  opposed.  Wheeler 
then  ordered  his  men  to  put  up  their  muskets  and  let  him 
stand  upon  the  steps.  He  harangued  the  crowd  for  two  hours, 
though  they  constantly  interrupted  him  with  jeers,  and  cries 
of  "  Adjourn  without  day."  When  he  had  finished  speaking, 
he  went  on  to  the  United  States  Arms  tavern,  and  there 
opened  court.  Next  day,  however,  finding  that  the  militia 
were  taking  sides  with  the  malcontents,  the  court  was  ad 
journed  without  day.  The  mob  then  demanded  this  decision 
in  writing,  and  he  gave  it.* 

The  next  week  the  Court  of  Sessions  was  to  sit  at  Concord. 
Orders  were  therefore  issued  that  the  militia  of  Middlesex 
and  Bristol  should  turn  out  and  protect  it.  In  the  meanwhile, 
the  citizens  of  Concord,  thinking  that  pacific  measures  might 
perhaps  have  more  effect  with  the  insurgents  than  the  appear 
ance  of  force,  named  committees  to  confer  wTith  the  leaders. 
These  were  found  so  well  disposed  to  listen  to  reason  that  an 
understanding  was  soon  reached.  The  malcontents  were  to 

*  See  a  letter  in  the  New  York  Packet,  September  18,  1786;  also,  Massachu 
setts  Spy. 


308      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  m. 

make  no  demonstration,  and  the  citizens  were  to  promise  that 
the  militia  should  not  be  called  out.  The  order  summoning 
the  Middlesex  men  to  arms  was  accordingly  wholly  counter 
manded,  and  that  for  the  Bristol  men  conditionally  so.  This 
was  precisely  what  the  insurgents  wished  ;  and  the  day  before 
the  court  was  to  sit  they  appeared,  to  the  horror  of  the  citi 
zens,  in  great  force  at  Concord.  They  were  commanded  by 
Job  Shattuck  and  one  named  Smith.  The  whole  of  Monday 
was  spent  in  making  rude  huts  out  of  fence-posts  and  boards. 
In  these  they  passed  the  night.  When  Tuesday  came,  for  that 
was  the  day  on  which  the  court  was  to  meet,  the  entire  force 
marched  to  the  ground  opposite  the  court-house,  took  posses 
sion  of  it,  drew  up  in  line,  and  kept  guards  marching  up  and 
down  before  them.  The  order  was  good,  and  the  movements 
of  the  mob  had  much  of  military  precision.  But  the  towns 
folk  noticed  with  alarm  that  barrels  of  rum  were  constantly  on 
tap.  At  length,  becoming  impatient  of  the  long  time  taken 
by  the  judges  to  deliberate,  and  being  heated  with  rum,  the 
mob  demanded  that  a  detachment  should  be  sent  to  find  out 
the  cause  of  the  delay.  Some  horse  and  foot  accordingly  set 
out.  When  they  came  to  the  tavern  where  the  judges  were, 
they  marched  up  and  down  in  front  of  the  building  several 
times,  halted,  and  faced  about  in  a  threatening  manner.  The 
judges,  understanding  this  display  of  force,  sent  out  word  that 
no  court  would  be  held.  The  insurgents  then  withdrew.  It 
was  now  past  noon,  and  about  two  o'clock  a  fellow  acting  as 
sergeant  went  off,  with  two  drums  and  a  fife,  and  soon  came 
back  with  about  ninety  men,  well  armed.  They  came  from 
Hampshire  and  Worcester.  As  the  men  from  Worcester 
marched  by  Jones's  tavern,  where  the  court  was  then  at  din 
ner,  Smith  called  on  the  crowd  to  fall  in.  "  He  would,"  he 
said,  "  give  them  two  hours  to  think  about  it.  At  the  end  of 
that  time,  every  man  who  did  not  follow  his  drum  and  join  the 
Regulators  should  be  driven  out  of  town  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet."  Then  he  became  outrageous,  cursed  and  swore, 
and  declared  that  any  man  who  escaped  him  would  be  a 
monument  of  God's  living  mercy.*  Shattuck  also  harangued 

*  One  who  claims  to  have  been  an  eye-witness  reports  the  words  of  Smith  to 
have  been  :  "As  Christ  laid  down  his  life  to  save  the  world,  so  will  I  lay  down 


1786.  RIOT   AT   GREAT  BARRINGTON".  309 

the  by-slanders,  and  told  them  it  was  high  time  to  wipe  out  all 
old  debts  and  begin  anew.  "  Well  said,  well  said,  Job,"  cried 
one  who  overheard  him ;  "  for  I  know  you  have  bought  two 
farms  lately  which  you  can  never  pay  for." 

And  now  a  few  of  the  malcontents,  who  had  carried  back 
the  message  of  the  judges  to  the  main  body  at  the  court-house, 
came  again.  They  brought  with  them  a  written  message  that 
it  was  the  sense  of  the  people  that  the  court  should  not  sit,  and 
demanded  that  the  answer  which  they  had  received  in  the 
morning  should  be  put  down  in  writing.  The  judges  referred 
them  to  the  clerk.  The  clerk,  however,  told  them  he  was  but 
a  recording  officer,  that  he  had  no  orders  from  the  court  to  do 
the  thing  they  required ;  and,  while  they  were  yet  wrangling 
with  him,  the  judges  made  good  their  escape."" 

While  these  disturbances  were  taking  place  in  the  lower 
counties,  the  rage  of  the  disaffected  broke  out  with  equal  vio 
lence  in  Berkshire.  It  had  indeed  at  one  time  seemed  as  if, 
in  that  county  at  least,  the  farmers  and  ploughboys  were  of  a 
better  mind.  Late  in  August  a  convention  had  been  held  at 
Lenox.  In  it  many  friends  of  good  order  and  government 
found  seats.  Nor  did  the  most  rancorous  members  seem  quite 
ready  to  go  to  such  an  extreme  as  their  neighbors  had  gone  to 
at  Hatfield.  The  men  who  were  for  order  even  succeeded  in 
passing  a  few  measures  of  a  strong  character.  The  convention 
declared  that  it  approved  of  the  way  the  impost  and  excise  reve 
nue  was  expended,  and  of  the  grant  of  supplementary  funds 
to  Congress.  That  it  disapproved  of  all  systems  of  paper 
money,  and  promised  a  hearty  support  to  the  courts.  But 
however  great  might  be  the  influence  of  these  men  over  the 
convention,  they  had  none  over  the  mob.  Scarcely  were  the 
resolutions  passed  than  eight  hundred  malcontents  entered 
Great  Barrington,  prevented  the  sitting  of  the  Court  of  Com 
mon  Pleas,  broke  open  the  jail,  set  the  prisoners  free,  and 

my  life  to  suppress  the  Government  from  all  tyrannical  oppression,  and  you  who 
are  willing  to  join  us  in  this  here  affair  may  fall  into  our  ranks.  Those  who  do 
not  shall,  after  two  hours,  stand  the  monuments  of  God's  living  mercy."  Penn 
sylvania  Packet,  September  23,  1786. 

*  My  account  of  the  scene  at  Concord  is  taken  from  letters  published  in  the 
New  York  Packet  for  September  21,  1786;  New  York  Gazetteer,  September  20, 
1786  ;  and  Pennsylvania  Packet,  September  23,  1786. 


310      THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.  CHAP.  IIL 

compelled  three  of  the  judges  to  sign  a  paper.  By  this  instru 
ment  they  bound  themselves  not  to  act  under  their  commissions 
till  the  grievances  of  the  people  were  fully  redressed.  But  the 
fourth  judge,  who  was  also  a  Senator,  stoutly  refused  to  sign, 
nor  could  they  by  threats  force  him  to  do  so. 

The  complaints  and  demonstrations  had,  up  to  the  middle 
of  September,  been  directed  against  the  Courts  of  Common 
Pleas,  the  Courts  of  General  Sessions  of  the  Peace,  and  to 
some  hateful  features  in  the  manner  of  holding  the  Courts 
of  Probate.  But  now  the  rioters  began  to  tremble  for  their 
safety.  The  opposition,  it  was  openly  said,  which  had  been 
made  to  the  lower  courts,  left  but  one  course  open  to  them. 
They  must  at  all  hazards  prevent  the  sitting  of  the  Supreme 
Judicial  Court ;  for  that  court  had  the  power,  and  doubtless 
would  exercise  it,  of  indicting  them  for  past  offences.  To  the 
friends  of  Government  there  seemed  little  ground  for  this  fear. 
For  the  Supreme  Court  had,  since  the  affair  of  the  fifth  of 
September,  held  a  session  at  Worcester ;  yet  not  a  single  bill 
had  been  brought  in  against  the  rioters  by  the  jury.  The 
leaders,  however,  were  determined,  and  announced  that  the 
Supreme  Court  soon  to  be  held  at  Springfield  should  not  sit. 
The  Governor,  on  the  other  hand,  announced  that  it  should. 
And  that  this  might  not  prove  an  empty  assertion  six  hundred 
militia  were  ordered  under  arms  and  took  possession  of  the 
court-house.  The  command  was  given  to  General  Shepard, 
an  officer  who  had  served  with  distinction  in  the  late  war. 

On  the  morning  of  court-day  the  malcontents  mustered  to 
the  number  of  five  or  six  hundred,  and  marched  to  the  court 
house  under  the  command  of  Daniel  Shays.  Shays  had  once 
held  a  captain's  commission  in  the  Continental  army,  and  now 
strove  to  maintain  something  of  military  order  and  discipline 
among  his  followers.  They  went,  accordingly,  in  good  style  to 
the  ground.  But  the  moment  they  caught  sight  of  the  militia 
their  rage  broke  forth  in  shouts  and  curses.  When  quiet  was 
restored  Shays  sent  an  insolent  message  to  the  court  forbid 
ding  it  to  find  any  indictment  against  his  people.  To  this  the 
judges  returned  a  firm  answer.  They  had,  they  said,  sworn  to 
carry  out  the  laws  and  they  intended  to  do  so.  But  as  little 
business  could  be  done  in  the  midst  of  confusion  they  soon 


1786.  MEETING   OF  THE   GENERAL   COURT.  311 

after  adjourned  to  the  next  day.  On  Wednesday,  the  panel  of 
jurors  not  being  full,  the  few  who  came  were  dismissed.  On 
Thursday  the  court  rose. 

Meanwhile  the  rioters,  mortified  and  enraged,  began  to  take 
violent  measures.  At  one  time  they  drew  up  in  line  of  battle 
and  marched  down  upon  the  militia  with  drums  beating  and 
muskets  primed.  For  a  moment  it  seemed  that  a  general 
action  was  near.  In  truth,  it  was  only  by  the  utmost  exercise 
of  authority  that  Shays  prevented  his  men  from  firing  on  the 
troops.  At  another  time  they  insisted  on  marching  through 
the  streets  of  Springfield  in  the  very  face  of  Shepard  and  his 
army.  This  was  too  much ;  nor  was  it  till  Shays  had  given 
the  most  solemn  assurance  that  no  demonstration  should  be 
made  that  leave  was  granted.  When  word  came  that  the 
court  had  adjourned,  a  demand  was  instantly  made  for  the 
ground  occupied  by  the  troops.  This  was  acceded  to;  and 
while  the  rioters  were  hastening  to  take  possession  of  it  with 
as  much  joy  as  if  it  had  been  a  hard-won  field,  Shepard 
marched  to  the  protection  of  the  Federal  arsenal. 

Great  Barrington  was  the  next  point  of  attack.  The  an 
nouncement  had  been  made  that  the  Supreme  Court  would  not 
sit  at  that  place.  But  the  Regulators,  as  they  called  themselves, 
denounced  this  as  a  ruse.  They  were  not,  they  said,  to  be 
deceived  in  that  way.  They  knew  that  the  court  would  surely 
hold  a  session  unless  they  were  on  the  spot  to  prevent  it. 
They  would  therefore  take  good  care  to  be  upon  the  spot.  A 
large  crowd  accordingly  marched  into  the  town  on  court-day. 
But  when  they  discovered  that  they  had  merely  deluded  them 
selves,  their  shame  and  disappointment  were  great.  They  first 
became  insolent  and  then  riotous,  drove  some  of  the  friends 
of  Government  out  of  town,  searched  several  houses,  and  fired 
on  two  of  the  first  characters  in  the  place. 

This  done,  they  behaved  for  a  time  more  peaceably.  For 
the  Geneval  Court  had,  on  the  twenty-seventh  of  the  month 
assembled  at  Boston,  and  great  numbers  of  the  rioters  were 
hurrying  off  to  the  county  conventions.  One  in  Middlesex 
comprised  delegates  from  eighteen  towns.  Forty-one  towns 
formed  another  in  Worcester,  while  all  the  villages  but  one  in 
Boston  made  up  a  third.  In  each  of  these  the  troubles  of  the 


312    THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.    CHAP.  in. 

people  were  carefully  gone  over,  and,  after  much  wrangling,  a 
petition  sent  up  to  the  Legislature.  These  three  documents 
were  instantly  taken  into  consideration,  and  such  grievances  as 
were  common  to  them  picked  out  for  redress.  One  of  these 
was  the  sitting  of  the  General  Court  at  Boston.  Another  was 
the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  the  Court  of  General  Sessions  of 
the  Peace,  and  the  present  manner  of  holding  the  Probate 
Court.  Scarcity  of  money  was  a  third.  The  use  made  of  the 
impost  and  excise  tax  was  a  fourth.  In  one  way  or  another 
remedies  were  applied  to  each.  An  act  was  brought  in  for  the 
payment  of  back  taxes  in  specific  articles.  A  plan  was  agreed 
upon  by  which  civil  action  could  be  begun  before  a  justice  of 
the  peace.  A  tender  act  was  framed  which  was  believed  to  be 
quite  unobjectionable.  A  promise  was  also  given  that,  if  pos 
sible,  the  General  Court  should  in  future  hold  its  sessions  out 
of  Boston.  On  the  eighteenth  of  November  the  Legislature 
adjourned. 

It  might  as  well  have  never  assembled,  for  the  malcon 
tents  were  more  angry  than  ever.  Indeed,  they  were  too  irri 
tated  to  know  whether  the  great  concessions  made  to  them 
were  such  as  they  wished,  or  whether  they  wanted  any  conces 
sions  at  all.  Five  days  after  the  adjournment  of  the  General 
Court  the  towns  of  Worcester  formed  a  new  convention,  went 
over  the  late  acts  of  the  Legislature,  denounced  them  in  un 
measured  terms,  and  finally  put  out  an  address.  The  people 
were,  they  said,  perfectly  right  in  examining,  and,  if  need  be, 
censuring  and  condemning  the  conduct  of  their  rulers.  Any 
one  who  would  take  the  trouble  to  go  over  the  roll  of  the  Gen 
eral  Court  would  see  that  many  of  the  rulers  of  Massachusetts 
were  born  to  affluence.  They  all  were  perhaps  in  very  easy 
circumstances.  To  expect  men  in  such  circumstances,  men 
who  had  never  known  what  it  was  to  want  for  a  shilling,  or  to 
be  dragged  off  to  jail  by  a  harsh  creditor,  to  feel  for  the  poor 
was  absurd.  Undoubtedly  they  meant  well ;  but  they  were, 
after  all,  but  fallible  men,  and  had  shown  their  fallibility  most 
signally  in  the  policy  they  had  lately  pursued.  It  was  true 
that  this,  bad  as  it  was,  did  not  justify  the  stopping  of  the 
courts  of  justice  by  armed  bands.  That  was  wrong,  and  the 
people  were  earnestly  entreated  not  to  do  so  again.  Such  Ian* 


1T86.  RIOT   AT   WORCESTER.  313 

guage  from  such  an  assembly  was  rated  at  its  true  value  by  all 
who  read  it.  When  the  Court  of  General  Sessions  attempted 
to  sit  at  Worcester,  the  court-room  was  found  to  be  filled  with 
armed  men.  It  seems  that  early  on  the  morning  of  Tuesday, 
the  twenty-first  of  November,  some  sixty  men,  under  the  lead 
of  a  fellow  named  Gale,  came  into  the  north  end  of  the  town. 
During  that  evening  and  on  Wednesday  the  Hubbardston  and 
Shrewsbury  men  came  in  and  swelled  the  number  to  one  hun 
dred  and  fifty.  These  took  possession  of  the  court-house,  and 
quietly  awaited  the  coming  of  the  judges.  As  the  court  ap 
proached,  the  crowd  gave  room,  and  let  them  go  unmolested  to 
the  steps,  where  a  triple  line  of  bayonets  barred  the  way.  Then 
the  court,  after  the  ancient  fashion,  called  upon  the  sheriff  to 
clear  a  passage.  The  sheriff,  Colonel  Greenleaf,  who  made  some 
pretensions  to  oratory,  thereupon  addressed  the  crowd,  warned 
them  of  their  peril,  and  went  on  to  remark  in  severe  terms  on 
the  conduct  of  those  about  him.  But  the  crowd,  who  knew  him 
well,  were  determined  to  have  some  sport  with  him.  So  one  of 
the  leaders  answered  him  and  said  they  were  come  to  seek  re 
dress  for  grievances ;  that  the  most  intolerable  of  all  grievances 
was  the  sheriff  himself  and  that  next  to  his  person  were  his 
fees,  which  were,  for  executions  in  particular,  excessive.  "  If," 
said  the  Colonel,  who  was  much  nettled,  "  If  you  think  the  fees 
for  executions  excessive,  you  need  no  longer  seek  for  redress, 
for  I  will  hang  you  all  for  nothing  with  the  greatest  of  pleas 
ure."  This  raised  a  laugh,  and,  as  the  crowd  pressed  close 
about  him,  some  hand  put  an  evergreen  sprig,  the  badge  of 
rebellion,  in  his  hat.  But  the  Colonel,  ignorant  of  this,  led  the 
court  with  great  dignity  back  to  the  United  States  Arms,  amid 
shouts  of  laughter  from  the  crowd.  * 

While  the  disaffected  were  thus  associating  for  evil  pur 
poses,  the  better-minded  were  equally  active  in  forming  so 
cieties  for  good  purposes.  Scarce  had  the  Legislature  broken 
up  when  one  of  the  members  conceived  the  project  of  forming 
a  league.  Every  one  who  came  into  it  was  to  pledge  him 
self  to  discourage  the  use  and  importation  of  foreign  goods, 
and  to  promise  to  wear  home-made  clothes,  and  by  every 
means  in  his  power  to  encourage  economy,  frugality,  and  in- 

*  Lincoln's  History  of  Worcester. 


THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.    CHAP.  m. 

dustry.  The  plan  was  quickly  put  into  execution,  and  the 
Governor,  the  Lieutenant-Governor,  the  members  of  the  Coun 
cil  and  the  Senate,  put  down  their  names  as  members.  Some 
rich  merchants,  in  the  hope  of  taking  off  the  reproach  that 
had  been  fastened  upon  them,  made  haste  to  join  it.*  And 
now  the  garrets  were  ransacked  for  old  spinning-wheels.  The 
spinning-bee  came  again  into  fashion ;  spinning-schools  were 
started  in  'almost  every  town,  and  for  a  time  damsels  were 
more  ambitious  to  be  renowned  for  their  skill  at  the  wheel 
than  for  their  performances  at  the  harpsichord  and  spinet. 
Nor  must  we  fail  to  make  mention  of  a  like  association  which 
about  this  time  sprang  up  in  Connecticut.  The  disturbances 
in  Massachusetts  had  greatly  alarmed  the  women  of  Hartford. 
They  were  now  quite  convinced  that  the  cry  they  had  BO  long 
heard,  that  extravagance  and  importation  were  ruining  the 
country,  really  meant  something.  For  they  could  not  fail  to 
see  that  money  was  fast  going  out  of  the  States,  and  that  it 
was  going  out  in  payment  for  goods  of  which  fully  two  thirds 
were  consumed  by  women.  They  determined  to  seek  a  remedy, 
and  after  vigorously  canvassing  the  matter,  called  a  meeting 
for  the  sixth  of  November.  They  ended  by  drawing  up  an 
address  for  public  circulation.  This  set  forth  that  the  women 
of  Hartford  had  taken  into  consideration  the  unhappy  state  of 
the  country.  They  had  found  it  most  deplorable,  and  had 
made  up  their  minds  to  retrench  as  far  as  possible  all  unneces 
sary  expense,  as  a  duty  they  owed  as  well  to  their  country  as  to 
their  families.  A  resolution  therefore  had  been  adopted  that 
for  the  space  of  eight  months  they  would  not  buy  any  gauze, 
any  ribbons,  any  laces,  any  feathers,  any  beaver  hats,  silks, 
muslins,  or  chintzes.  There  were,  however,  two  occasions  in 
life  which  seemed,  even  in  the  most  distressing  times,  to 
justify  a  woman  in  the  purchase  of  these  foreign  goods.  The 
resolutions  accordingly  very  properly  stated  that  an  exception 
was  to  be  made  for  weddings  and  mournings.  With  this 
reservation  they  further  resolved  to  dress  their  persons  in  the 
plainest  manner,  to  encourage  industry,  frugality,  and  neatness, 

*  See  Association  entered  into  by  the  late  Governor,  Lieutenant-Governor, 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  several  members  of  that  body,  eta 
American  Museum,  August,  1787. 


1786.  SHAYS'  REBELLION   BEGINS.  315 

and  that,  whenever  they  received  visits  or  made  feasts,  they 
would  study  to  avoid  all  unnecessary  expense,  especially  in  the 
matter  of  imported  goods.* 

A  month  later  the  disturbances  broke  out  afresh.  The 
regular  term  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  was  to  be  held  at 
Cambridge  early  in  December.  Some  muttered  threats  had 
been  reported  to  the  Governor,  and  led  him  to  believe  that 
measures  for  obstructing  the  sitting  were  on  foot.  So  he  or 
dered  seven  regiments  of  militia  to  hold  themselves  in  readiness 
to  move  on  a  moment's  notice.  But  some  well-disposed  per 
sons  in  Middlesex  undertook  to  promise  the  malcontents  that 
if  they  would  only  keep  quiet  the  militia  would  not  be  ordered 
to  march.  The  desired  pledge  was  readily  given,  accepted, 
and  no  military  orders  issued.  In  spite  of  the  assurance  of 
good  behavior,  however,  a  large  number  of  insurgents  met  at 
Concord.  They  had  expected  to  find  there  bands  from  Bristol, 
Worcester,  and  Hampshire,  and  go  on  with  these  to  Cam 
bridge.  As  it  was,  they  actually  went  quite  a  distance  on  the 
road  from  Worcester. 

And  now  the  patience  of  Bowdoin  gave  out.  Tin's  new 
piece  of  deception  was  too  much.  He  issued  warrants  against 
the  Middlesex  leaders,  and  placed  them  in  the  hands  of  the 
sheriff  for  execution.  The  sheriff  speedily  collected  a  company 
of  cavalry,  and  with  some  gentlemen  of  Boston  under  Colonel 
Hitchburn,  and  a  party  from  Groton  under  Colonel  Wood,  set 
out,  by  daylight,  on  the  morning  of  the  twenty-ninth  of  No 
vember.  They  came  first  to  Concord.  There  a  discussion  took 
place  as  to  who  should  go  forward.  Finally  it  was  settled  that 
the  Groton  horse  should  be  dispatched.  They  were,  it  was 
said,  best  acquainted  with  the  country,  and,  being  known  there, 
would  not  excite  alarm  from  an  unfamiliar  appearance  to  the 
inhabitants.  About  dusk  these  returned  with  two  prisoners — 
Parker  and  Page.  Shattuck  had  taken  the  alarm  and  fled. 
But  the  sheriff  was  determined  to  make  one  more  attempt  to 
take  him,  and  at  the  dead  of  night,  in  a  blinding  snow-storm, 
the  whole  party  set  off  for  Shattuck's  house  in  Groton.  But 
the  darkness  of  the  night,  the  severity  of  the  storm  and  the 

*New  York  Packet  for  November  14,  1786.  •  See,  also,  Patriotic  and  (Eco 
nomical  Society  of  the  Ladies  of  Hartford.     American  Museum,  August,  1787. 


316    THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.    CHAP.  in. 

great  drifts  of  snow  that  lay  across  the  road,  so  delayed  the 
march  of  the  little  band  that  it  was  not  till  late  on  the  morn 
ing  of  the  thirtieth  that  they  came  in  sight  of  Shattuck's  home. 
Meanwhile,  he  had  taken  the  alarm  and  fled  to  the  woods.  A 
diligent  search  was  instantly  begun,  his  tracks  were  soon  dis 
covered  in  the  snow,  and  himself  surrounded.  And  now, 
when  he  saw  that  his  chances  of  escape  were  few,  his  courage 
revived.  He  determined  to  sell  his  life  as  dearly  as  possible, 
and  made  a  desperate  effort  to  cut  his  way  through ;  nor  was 
he  taken  till  many  wounds  were  given  and  received. 

While  this  was  going  on  in  Middlesex,  the  malcontents 
were  gathering  in  Worcester.  At  last,  early  in  December, 
though  the  cold  was  more  intense  than  had  been  known  for 
many  years,  and  the  roads  made  almost  impassable  by  snow,  a 
thousand  of  them  inarched  into  the  county  town.  Shays  com 
manded  them.  A  few  he  placed  as  guards  about  the  houses 
where  the  judges  were,  and  some  were  lodged  at  the  Hancock 
Arms.  The  rest  he  billeted  on  the  townsfolk.*  It  was  at 
Worcester,  while  living  at  free  quarters,  that  the  news  of  the 
captures  at  Groton  reached  them.  In  a  few  hours  all  was  in  a 
ferment.  Some,  disheartened  by  the  cold,  by  repeated  defeats, 
and  the  resolute  front  the  Government  was  beginning  to  show, 
began  to  murmur.  It  was  time,  they  said,  to  go  home.  Matters 
might  take  a  favorable  turn  before  spring.  But  it  was  plainly 
useless  to  contend  against  the  weather  and  the  troops.  Shays 
himself  was  of  this  mind,  and,  at  a  time  when  his  voice  should 
have  been  raised  to  encourage  the  faint-hearted,  was  overheard 
to  say :  "  For  God's  sake,  have  matters  settled  peaceably ;  it  was 
against  my  inclination  I  undertook  this  business ;  importunity 
was  used  which  I  could  not  withstand ;  but  I  heartily  wish  it 
was  well  over."  f  Others  of  a  more  determined  mind  were 
for  marching  straight  to  Boston  and  effecting  the  release  of 
Shattuck  and  Page.  There  seemed  indeed  but  little  disposi 
tion  on  the  part  of  the  insurgents  to  carry  out  their  threat ; 
yet  it  was  on  that  account  none  the  less  alarming  to  the  Bos- 
tonians.  Preparations  to  defend  the  capital  were  instantly 
made.  A  post  was  sent  to  General  Brooks,  commanding  him 


*  Boston  Gazette,  December  11,  1786,  and  January  29,  1787. 
f  Lincoln's  History  of  Worcester,  p.  147. 


1786.  RETREAT   OF   SHAYS.  317 

to  have  the  militia  of  Middlesex  up  and  ready  to  move  on  the 
shortest  notice.  The  duty  of  defending  the  city  was  laid  upon 
General  Lincoln.  He  placed  the  Boston  militia  under  orders, 
and  notified  other  companies  in  Suffolk  to  come  in  the  moment 
they  heard  the  discharge  of  cannon  on  Fort  Hill.* 

But  when  the  ninth  of  December  came,  Shays  and  his 
party,  instead  of  advancing,  fell  back.  The  retreat,  as  was  to 
be  expected  of  a  band  of  .rustics,  was  disorderly  and  confused. 
But  there  were  other  incidents  which  made  it  long  remembered 
in  the  Worcester  villages.  While  they  were  still  enjoying 
comfortable  quarters,  many  had  heartily  cursed  the  folly  that 
brought  them  on  such  an  errand  at  such  a  season  of  the  year, 
and  had  a  thousand  times  wished  themselves  well  out  of  the 
business.  When,  however,  the  retreat  began,  the  suffering  of 
the  whole  body  became  extreme.  The  thermometer  was  far 
below  zero ;  many  had  a  long  journey  before  them,  and  could 
with  the  greatest  difficulty  obtain  a  crust  of  bread  or  a  piece 
of  bacon.  In  this  distressed  state  numbers  of  them,  weak  from 
cold  and  hunger,  and  weary  with  plodding  through  banks  and 
drifts  of  snow,  fell  down  in  the  fields  and  died.  Of  those  who 
escaped  death,  scarce  one  reached  home  without  a  frozen  hand  or 
a  frost-bitten  foot.  Even  the  zeal  of  Shays  seems  to  have  been 
greatly  cooled.  An  officer  who  fell  in  with  him  asked,  leaving 
it  optional  with  him  to  answer,  if  a  pardon  were  offered,  would 
he  take  it  and  leave  his  people  to  themselves.  Shays,  with  the 
spirit  of  a  craven,  instantly  replied,  "  Yes,  in  a  moment."  His 
words  were  soon  carried  to  the  authorities,  and  the  officer 
commissioned  to  offer  a  pardon.  The  two,  however,  never 
met  again,  the  commission  was  returned,  and  Shays  gave  his 
name  to  the  rebellion.f 

*  Boston  Gazette,  December  4,  1786. 

f  The  retreat  of  Shays  caused  much  delight,  and  was  celebrated  in  prose  and 
verse.     A  single  specimen  of  the  poetry  and  the  wit  will  suffice : 
"  Says  sober  Will,  well,  Shays  has  fled, 

And  peace  returns  to  bless  our  days. 
Indeed  !  cried  Ned,  I  always  said, 

He'd  prove  at  last  a  fall-back  chaise  ; 
And  those  turned  over  and  undone 
Call  him  a  worthless  Shays  to  run." 

It  was  later  suggested  that  the  names  of  Shays  and  his  band  should  be  handed 
down  to  posterity  in  some  such  rhyme  as  this : 


318    THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.     CHAP.  m. 

The  Governor  now  determined  to  raise  an  army.  And  it 
was  high  time.  For  the  friends  of  Government  had  of  late 
manifested  a-  great  dislike  to  appearing  in  arms  against  men 
who  were  their  neighbors  and  acquaintances,  and  on  whose 
votes  they  counted  for  seats  in  the  Assembly,  or  for  county 
and  town  offices.  Indeed,  in  several  places  the  malcontents 
were  greatly  enraged  at  the  opposition  they  met  with,  and 
had  gone  off  vowing  vengeance.  In  some  towns  officers  of 
the  militia,  and  noted  characters  who  had  been  active  on  the 
side  of  Government,  were  threatened  with  violence.  In  oth 
ers,  scarce  a  week  went  by  but  the  sky  was  reddened  by 
burning  barns  or  blazing  hay-stacks.  Under  these  circum 
stances  men  were  loath  to  leave  their  shops  and  their  homes, 
seize  their  muskets,  and  hasten  to  protect  a  court,  to  receive 
in  return  for  their  pains  the  thanks  of  the  Governor  and  the 
destruction  of  their  property  by  the  mob.  This  difficulty,  it 
was  thought,  could  readily  be  overcome  by  sending  the  men 
raised  in  one  county  to  contend  against  the  disaffected  in 
another.  They  would  then  no  longer  find  themselves  op 
posed  to  friends  and  acquaintances,  but  to  men  they  did  not 
know,  for  whom  they  cared  nothing,  and  who  did  not  know 
them.  Plans,  therefore,  were  soon  on  foot  for  collecting  an 
army  of  four  thousand  four  hundred  men.  Seven  hundred  of 
these  were  to  come  from  Suffolk  and  five  hundred  from  Essex. 
Middlesex  was  to  furnish  eight  hundred  more,  while  Hamp 
shire  and  Worcester  were  each  to  send  up  twelve  hundred. 
Suffolk  and  Middlesex  were  also  called  on  for  two  companies 
of  artillery.  The  men  from  Suffolk  and  Essex  were  to  assemble 
at  Boston  on  the  nineteenth  of  January.  Those  from  Hamp 
shire  at  Springfield  on  the  eighteenth.  The  Worcester  men 
were  to  join  the  troops  from  the  eastern  counties  at  Worcester. 
All  were  enlisted  for  thirty  days,  unless  sooner  discharged,  and 
were  to  receive  the  same  pay  as  during  the  war  had  been 
given  to  the  continentals.  The  command  was  bestowed  on 
General  Lincoln. 

And  now  a  new  difficulty  arose.     The  Quartermaster-Gen- 

"  R — stands  for  Rebels  who  mobs  dare  to  raise. 
S — stands  for  Satan,  Smith,  Shattuck,  and  Shays." 

New  Jersey  Journal,  January  17,  1787. 


1787.  MASSACHUSETTS   RAISES   AN  ARMY.  319 

era!  reported  that  munitions  of  war  for  so  large  a  body  of 
men  were  not  on  hand ;  nor  was  there  money  enough  in  the 
Treasury  to  purchase  them.  The  Legislature  was  not  then  in 
session.  It  might  be  summoned.  But  that  would  not  better 
matters.  For  the  money  would  have  to  be  raised  by  tax,  and 
no  tax  that  could  be  laid  would  yield  the  needed  sum  in  sea 
son.  In  this  situation  a  number  of  wealthy  gentlemen  made 
an  offer  of  a  loan  of  the  necessary  funds,  which  was  gladly  ac 
cepted. 

The  nineteenth  of  January,  therefore,  found  the  troops 
streaming  into  Roxbury.  There  preparations  were  speedily 
completed,  and  when  all  had  come  in  the  line  of  march  was 
taken  up  for  Worcester  which  was  entered  on  the  twenty- 
second.  The  march  through  the  country  between  these  two 
towns  was  performed  with  the  greatest  regard  for  the  feelings 
of  the  inhabitants.  Nothing  was  omitted  which  could  quiet 
the  alarm  so  naturally  excited  by  the  passage  of  twelve  hun 
dred  armed  men.  Every  command,  every  movement,  was 
executed  with  the  orderly  precision  of  old  warriors.  For  the 
troops  which  the  State  had  assembled,  while  they  passed  under 
the  name  of  militia,  were  very  different  •  from  the  holiday 
soldiers  which  could  now,  in  a  like  emergency,  be  gathered 
from  the  same  places.  They  were  an  army  of  veterans. 
Scarce  an  officer  among  them  but  had  gained  his  rank  bv 

O  O  •/ 

meritorious  services  in  the  late  war.  In  the  ranks  marched 
many  men  who  had  taken  up  arms  in  the  early  days  of  the 
revolution,  had  joined  the  continentals,  and  had  served  with 
the  illustrious  chief  to  the  close ;  had  participated  in  the  dis 
astrous  retreat  along  the  Hudson,  and  had  been  present  at  the 
surrender  of  Yorktown.  Even  the  greenest  had  seen  some 
thing  of  battles  and  sieges.  Some  had  lined  the  fences  on  that 
memorable  day  when  the  British  were  driven  out  of  Lexington 
town.  Some  had  stood  in  the  trenches  with  Warren,  and  had 
seen  the  redcoats  twice  come  up,  and  twice  in  confusion  go 
down  the  slope  of  Breed's  Hill.  Others  had  formed  part  of 
that  army  which  had  laid  siege  to  Boston,  and  had  looked  on 
with  grim  pleasure  as  the  ships  bearing  the  troops  of  Howe 
stood  out  to  sea. 

Among  the  malcontents  were  likewise  many  men  of  great 


320    THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.     CHAP.  in. 

military  experience.  But  they  were  in  a  position  where  their 
knowledge  was  of  small  use.  The  party  whose  cause  they  had 
taken  up  was  without  funds,  without  provisions,  and  without 
organization ;  nor  was  it  in  the  power  of  the  leaders  to  compel 
obedience  even  to  the  most  reasonable  commands.  It  was  the 
chiefs  who  obeyed,  not  imposed  commands.  When,  therefore, 
the  multitude  demanded  to  be  led  to  Springfield,  Shays  readily 
consented. 

In  December  a  great  crowd  under  Day  and  Grover  had 
come  into  the  town  to  obstruct  the  court.  But  no  disturbance 
had  arisen.  "  The  court  was,"  they  said,  "  mellow  enough." 
And  they  had  good  reason  to  say  so,  for  the  judges  sent  out 
and  invited  the  leaders  to  dine  with  them  at  the  tavern.  It 
was  not,  however,  to  hinder  the  sitting  of  a  court  that  they 
came  in  January.  On  that  plot  of  ground  now  covered  with 
the  gun-shops  and  sword-factories  of  one  of  the  most  magnifi 
cent  armories  in  the  world,  was  a  mean-looking  building  which 
had  long  been  used  as  a  Federal  arsenal.  In  it  were  a  con 
siderable  quantity  of  military  stores,  stoves,  camp-kettles,  sad 
dles,  a  few  hundred  kegs  of  damaged  powder,  a  few  thousand 
muskets,  and  several  field-pieces.  To  protect  these  was  the 
object  of  the  State.  To  get  possession  of  them  was  the  object 
of  the  mob.  While  the  troops  were  mustering  at  Roxbury, 
orders  were  sent  to  General  Shepard  to  take  possession  of 
Springfield.  The  village  at  that  time  was  made  up  of  a  few 
hundred  houses  scattered  along  the  post-road,  from  the  banks 
of  the  Connecticut  eastward  toward  Boston.  On  the  heights 
back  of  the  town  was  the  arsenal,  and  there  Shepard  posted  his 
twelve  hundred  men.  The  plan  of  the  malcontents  was  to 
surround  him  and  cut  the  army  to  pieces  before  Lincoln  could 
come  011  from  Worcester.  Eli  Parsons,  with  four  hundred 
Berkshire  men,  accordingly  took  possession  of  the  north  parish 
of  Springfield.  Day,  with  an  equal  number,  entered  West 
Springfield,  while  Shays,  with  eleven  hundred,  moved  toward 
the  Boston  road  on  the  east.  This  placed  the  Connecticut 
between  Day  and  Shays,  and  as  the  river  could  be  crossed  by 
bridge  or  by  ferry  strong  guards  were  placed  at  each.  From 
travellers  he  had  stopped  and  examined,  Shays  learned  that 
Lincoln,  with  some  four  thousand  men,  would  soon  be  upon 


1787.  SHAYS   ATTACKS  GENERAL   SHEPARD.  321 

him.  He  determined  to  act  at  once,  and,  on  the  twenty-fourth 
of  January,  sent  word  to  Day  that  on  the  twenty-fifth  Spring 
field  would  be  attacked  on  the  east,  and  urged  him  to  cross  the 
river  and  attack  it  on  the  west.  But  Day  was  ambitious  of 
military  renown.  He  would  have  all  the  glory  of  Shepard's 
surrender  or  none.  His  answer  was  that  he  could  not  attack 
on  the  twenty-fifth,  but  would  on  the  twenty-sixth.  The  mes 
senger,  happily,  was  taken,  the  dispatch  carried  to  Shepard,  and 
Shays,  hearing  nothing  from  Day,  took  it  for  granted  that  he 
would  assist. 

About  four  on  the  afternoon  of  the  twenty-fifth,  Shepard, 
as  he  expected,  saw  Shays  advancing  quickly  along  the  Bos 
ton  road.  His  men  were  in  open  column,  and  many  of  them 
wore  evergreen  boughs  in  their  hats.  When  they  had  come 
to  within  three  hundred  and  fifty  yards  of  the  arsenal,  an 
aid  was  sent  to  demand  the  intention  of  the  mob,  and  to 
warn  them  of  their  danger.  The  answer  came  back  that 
they  would  have  the  barracks.  Then  they  approached  nearer 
still.  Shepard  sent  a  flag  and  warned  Shays  that  if  he  crossed 
a  certain  line  he  did  so  at  the  peril  of  his  life.  At  this 
Shays  became  furious ;  said  that  was  just  what  he  wanted, 
called  his  Maker  to  witness  that  he  would  march  on,  and  did. 
The  troops  were  instantly  ordered  to  fire.  But  as  the  pur 
pose  was  merely  to  frighten,  the  muskets  were  pointed  in 
the  air.  And  now  Shepard  saw  his  mistake.  For  there 
were  in  the  ranks  of  Shays  many  old  soldiers  who  had 
been  in  too  many  battles  to  be  alarmed  by  the  rattle  of  mus 
ketry  or  the  noise  of  a  sham  fight.  They  continued  ad 
vancing  in  good  order  till  the  troops  were  a  second  time 
commanded  to  fire.  Four  men  immediately  fell.  Some,  not 
used  to  such  scenes,  raised  the  cry  of  murder  and  fled.  In 
a  moment  the  ranks  were  in  confusion.  Shays  threw  himself 
into  the  thickest  of  the  crowd,  and,  with  curses  and  threats, 
sought  to  stay  the  fugitives  and  deploy  his  column.  But  the 
terrified  ploughmen  that  rushed  by  him  were  deaf  to  his  en 
treaties  and  soon  the  eleven  hundred  were  in  full  retreat ;  nor 
did  they  stop  till  the  village  of  Ludlow,  ten  miles  from  Spring 
field,  was  entered.  The  next  day  they  joined  Parsons  at 
Chicopee.  There  a  count  was  taken.  To  the  dismay  of  all  it 

VOL.  i. — 22 


322    THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.     CHAP.  in. 

was  found  that  two  hundred  deserters  had  gone  off  to  their 
homes.* 

Meanwhile  Lincoln  had  been  hastening  toward  Springfield 
and  came  in  on  the  morning  of  the  twenty-seventh.  His  troops 
had  suffered  greatly  from  their  long  marches  in  the  cold  and 
the  snow.  Numbers  of  them  were  worn  down  with  fatigue ; 
others  badly  bitten  by  frost.  Yet  they  were  ordered  under 
arms  at  half  past  three  on  the  afternoon  of  their  arrival.  Four 
regiments  of  foot  and  four  pieces  of  artillery,  with  some  of 
the  horse,  were  then  led  across  the  river  on  the  ice.  Shepard, 
at  the  same  time,  with  the  Hampshire  men  and  the  light  horse 
moved  up  the  river  on  the  ice.  The  intention  of  Lincoln  was 
that  Shepard's  troops  should  prevent  Shays,  who  was  on  the 
east  bank,  joining  Day,  who  was  on  the  west,  while  his  own 
troops  were  to  cut  off  Day's  retreat. 

When  the  Hampshire  militia  were  seen  coming  up  the 
river  as  fast  as  the  slippery  ice  would  permit,  the  guard  at  the 
ferry-house  turned  out  and  made  some  show  of  resistance,  but 
soon  retreated.  A  few  troops  and  some  horse  were  sent  after 
them,  and  another  stand  was  made  near  the  meeting-house. 
This  lasted  but  a  minute  or  two,  and  they  once  more  retreated 
in  confusion  till  they  were  overtaken  at  the  west  end  of  the 
village  by  the  horse,  when  they  scattered  and  took  to  the  woods. 
That  night  Shays  collected  his  men,  and,  in  great  disorder,  fell 
back  through  South  Hadley  to  Amherst,  plundering  as  he 
went.f  So  great  was  the  confusion  that  when  a  party  of  strag 
glers  were  suddenly  overtaken  by  their  own  rear-guard,  they 
supposed  Lincoln's  advance  was  upon  them,  opened  fire,  and 
killed  several.  J 

The  pursuit,  however,  did  not  begin  till  two  in  the  morn 
ing  of  the  twenty-eighth,  and  was  then  continued  till  Amherst 
was  reached.  Shays,  in  the  meanwhile,  had  gone  on  to  Pel- 
ham  and  taken  post  on  two  high  hills  known  to  the  townsfolk 
as  east  hill  and  west  hill.  His  position,  naturally  a  strong  one, 
was  made  yet  more  sure  by  the  great  drifts  of  snow  that  lay 
all  along  the  foot  of  the  hills.  Finding  no  accommodation  for 

*  New  York  Packet,  February  2,  1787.  Boston  Gazettes,  February  5,  1787, 
and  later.  The  papers  are  full  of  letters. 

f  Boston  Gazette,  February  12,  1787.       \  New  York  Packet,  February  2,  1787. 


1787.  SHAYS  ESCAPES  LINCOLN.  323 

his  army  at  Amherst,  Lincoln  stayed  just  long  enough  to  search 
the  houses  and  to  learn  that  most  of  the  men,  with  ten  sleighs 
of  provisions,  had  gone  on  to  Pelham.  He  then  led  his  army 
to  Hadley.  But  no  sooner  were  the  men  comfortably  quartered 
than  news  came  that  some  of  Shepard's  force  had  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemy  at  Southampton  and  were  still  there. 
Immediately  the  Brookfield  volunteers,  numbering  fifty  men, 
were  sent  in  sleighs,  with  about  one  hundred  light  horse,  to 
effect  a  recapture.  They  were  soon  upon  the  track  of  the 
rebels  and  about  midnight  overtook  them  at  Middlefield. 
From  hints  thrown  out  by  the  villagers  it  was  discovered  that 
fifty  of  them,  under  Luddington,  had  gone  quietly  to  bed  at  a 
certain  house  which  was  quickly  surrounded.  Luddington 
had  during  the  war  been  an  officer  in  the  Continental  army, 
had  been  aid  to  General  Tupper,  and  was  not  a  little  discon 
certed  to  be  roused  from  his  sleep  at  dead  of  night  to  hear  the 
familiar  voice  of  his  old  commander  calling  on  him  from  the 
darkness  to  lay  down  his  arms.  When  he  had  collected  his 
senses  a  parley  was  held ;  and,  while  this  was  going  on,  the 
remainder  of  Luddington's  party  came  up  under  arms.  In  a 
moment  each  party  drew  up  in  line,  and  were  about  to  fire, 
when  the  cry  was  raised  that  the  troops  were  coming.  There 
upon  the  rebels  surrendered.  When  it  was  day,  Tupper,  with 
fifty-nine  prisoners  and  nine  sleighs  of  provisions,  went  back 
to  the  army. 

And  now  letters  began  to  pass  and  repass  between  Lincoln 
at  Hadley  and  Shays  at  Pelham.*  The  malcontents  were  re 
minded  of  the  heinous  crime  they  were  committing,  of  the 
punishment  that  justly  awaited  those  who  took  up  arms  against 
the  state,  and  of  the  pardon  which  a  mild  government  would 
even  then  bestow  on  all  who  laid  down  their  arms  and  went  to 
their  homes.  Some  show  of  repentance  was  made  on  this  ap 
peal,  and  finally  a  request  came  that  one  of  the  leaders  might 
hold  a  private  conference  with  one  of  the  officers  on  the  sub 
ject  of  a  pardon.  This  was  readily  granted,  and  the  third 
of  February  set  as  the  day.  The  whole  proceeding  was  a 
ruse.  For  while  the  conference  was  going  on  and  the  atten 
tion  of  the  army  drawn  to  it,  Shays  collected  his  men  and 

*  New  Jersey  Journal,  February  21,  1787. 


324    THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.    CHAP.  m. 

marched  rapidly  to  Petersham.  About  noon  on  the  day  of 
the  conference  the  news  that  the  enemy  were  in  motion  was 
brought  in  to  Lincoln.  At  first  he  was  disposed  to  think  that, 
like  all  reports  which  pass  from  mouth  to  mouth,  the  account 
as  given  to  him  was  much  exaggerated,  and  that  Shays  was 
merely  moving  his  men  from  the  east  hill  to  the  west  hill  in 
Pelham.  That  he  might  not,  however,  be  found  unprepared 
for  a  general  retreat  of  the  enemy,  the  troops  were  ordered  to 
be  in  readiness  to  march,  with  three  days'  provisions,  at  a  mo 
ment's  notice.  Scarce  were  the  preparations  completed  when 
positive  information  came  that  the  rebels  had  left  Pelham  and 
were  rapidly  marching  eastward.  This  word  was  brought  in  at 
six  in  the  evening.  At  eight  the  army  was  under  way.  Noth 
ing  of  note  happened  to  delay  the  advance  till  about  two  in  the 
morning  when  the  houses  of  New  Salem  came  in  sight.  Then 
a  strong  north  wind  arose  which  sharpened  the  cold  till  it  be 
came  all  but  unbearable.  Clouds  at  the  same  time  began  to 
gather,  and,  before  the  troops  had  gone  far  a  blinding  snow 
storm  overtook  them.  The  way  on  to  Petersham  lay  over  a 
high  country  thinly  settled  and  with  few  trees.  If  they  went  on 
they  would  therefore  be  exposed  to  the  full  force  of  the  wind 
and  the  snow.  If  they  stood  still,  it  seemed  hardly  possible 
that  flesh  and  blood  could  long  withstand  the  cold.  The 
nearest  shelter  for  so  many  was  eight  miles  away.  Thus, 
deprived  of  covering  by  want  of  buildings,  and  of  food  by  the 
severity  of  the  cold,  which  prevented  them  taking  any  on  the 
road,  Lincoln  felt  that  the  life  of  his  men  depended  on  continu 
ing  the  march  to  the  enemy's  quarters.  This  accordingly  was 
done,  and  the  whole  thirty  miles  was  made  with  scarcely  a  halt. 
About  nine  in  the  morning  the  advance  guard,  under  Colonel 
Haskill,  with  a  company  of  artillery  and  two  cannon,  entered 
Petersham.  It  was  then  discovered  that  the  rear  was  five  miles 
behind  them. 

This  undoubtedly  was  the  time  for  action  by  the  malcon 
tents.  They  were  numerous.  The  advance  guard  of  Lincoln 
was  small  and  the  main  army  was  yet  far  away.  They  had  been 
well  fed  and  comfortably  lodged  in  warm  houses.  The  troops 
were  numb  and  half  frozen  by  the  cold,  and  had  just  finished  a 
march  of  thirty  miles,  through  drifts  of  snow  knee-deep.  But 


1787.  DISTURBANCES  IN  BERKSHIRE.  325 

the  rebels  were  taken  completely  by  surprise.  They  had  not 
expected  a  pursuit  so  soon,  and  had  gone  quietly  to  bed  feeling 
sure  that  Lincoln  was  still  at  Hadley,  and  that  the  cold  and  the 
snow  would  keep  him  there  for  some  days  to  come.  When, 
therefore,  the  cry  was  raised  that  the  militia  were  come,  they 
rushed  from  the  houses,  and  without  stopping  to  ask  about 
numbers  thronged  into  a  narrow  lane  that  led  to  Athol,  and 
quitted  the  town  in  confusion.  They  were  closely  followed, 
and  about  two  miles  out  of  town  a  hundred  and  fifty  were 
taken.  Many  more  fled  to  their  homes.  The  rest  went  over  the 
borders,  some  to  ~New  Hampshire,  some  to  Vermont,  and  some 
to  New  York. 

The  rout  at  Petersham  was  most  complete.  The  rebels 
continued,  indeed,  for  some  months,  to  collect  in  small  bands, 
come  over  the  line  and  harass  the  border  towns.  But  they 
never  at  any  time  thereafter  appeared  in  force. 

Lincoln,  feeling  sure  that  the  rebellion  of  Shays  was  now 
over,  dismissed  three  companies  of  artillery  and  ordered  two 
regiments  back  to  Worcester.  He  then  set  out  for  Northfield, 
where  some  of  the  fugitives  had  collected.  But  on  the  way  an 
express  met  him  from  General  Patterson,  who  commanded  in 
Berkshire. 

It  seems  that  while  the  militia  were  hastening  from  Worces 
ter  toward  Springfield  the  malcontents  of  Berkshire,  who  had 
gone  over  to  Shays,  thought  to  distract  the  Government  and 
render  good  service  to  their  cause  by  appearing  in  arms  at  several 
places.  But  the  friends  of  Government  were  likewise  not  inac 
tive.  They  felt  satisfied  that  Lincoln  would  speedily  disperse 
the  rebels.  And  in  that  event  it  was,  they  thought,  more  than 
likely  Shays  would  fall  back  to  the  heights  that  lay  between 
the  counties  of  Hampshire  and  Berkshire,  fortify  the  passes 
and  the  strong  points,  draw  his  supplies  from  the  towns  well 
affected  to  Government,  and  seize  on  the  chief  characters  as 
hostages.  They  determined  therefore  to  form  an  association 
for  common  defence,  and  soon  five  hundred  names  were  given 
in.  It  was  well  that  they  did  so,  for  scarce  was  the  league 
formed  when  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  rebels  under  Hub- 
bard  appeared  at  West  Stockbridge.  Hubbard  had  taken  his 
post  at  the  meeting  of  three  roads,  was  stopping  all  travel- 


326     THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TKADE  AND  COMMERCE.     CHAP.  m. 

lers,  and  drawing  a  considerable  number  of  recruits  from  the 
country  round  about.  But  while  he  was  thus  occupied  news 
was  sent  through  the  neighboring  towns  and  a  force  was  speed 
ily  upon  each  of  the  three  roads  and  hastening  toward  him. 
The  first  to  come  up  was  a  party  of  thirty-seven  foot  and  seven 
horse.  On  their  appearance  Hubbard's  sentries  discharged 
their  muskets  and  fell  back.  The  whole  force  was  instantly 
drawn  up  in  line  and  word  given  to  fire.  They  hesitated.  See 
ing  this,  one  of  the  horsemen  who  was  well  known  to  many  of 
the  rebels,  rode  up  and  commanded  them  to  lay  down  their 
arms.  Some  readily  did  so,  whereupon  the  rest  broke  and  fled, 
firing  as  they  retreated.  These  were  hotly  pursued  and  eighty- 
four  of  them,  with  Hubbard,  were  made  prisoners.  It  is  per 
haps  interesting  to  note  that  the  horseman  who  on  that  day 
commanded  the  rebels  to  disperse  was  Theodore  Sedgwick,  the 
ancestor  of  that  famous  General  John  Sedgwick  who,  after 
many  gallant  services  in  the  Mexican  War,  went  down,  sword  in 
hand,  in  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness,  and  of  that  Catharine 
Sedgwick  who  wrote  "  Hope  Leslie  "  and  "  The  Linwoods." 

The  dispatch  which  told  of  the  skirmish  at  West  Stock- 
bridge  further  stated  that  the  rebels  had  afterward  met  at 
Adams ;  had  been  scattered  by  Patterson ;  had  again  assembled 
at  Williamstown ;  had  once  more  been  dispersed,  and  were 
now  marching  in  such  numbers  to  Washington  that  the  General 
felt  much  alarmed  for  the  safety  of  his  troops.  This  at  once 
changed  the  plans  of  Lincoln.  He  gave  up  his  intention  to 
march  to  Northfield,  and  hastened  with  one  division  of  the 
army  through  Amherst,  Hadley,  Chesterfield,  Partridgefield, 
and  Worthington,  to  Pittsfield.  Shepard,  with  the  other  di 
vision,  set  out  for  the  same  place  by  a  different  road.  But  the 
malcontents  had  fled.  Parties  in  sleighs  were  sent  to  Dalton 
and  to  Williamstown,  and  these  returned  soon  after  with  twenty 
prisoners. 

Meanwhile,  a  letter  from  Eli  Parsons,  who  was  safe  over  the 
border,  was  going  from  hand  to  hand  through  the  State.  The 
language  was  that  of  a  village  tavern  orator.  Will  you,  said  he, 
tamely  submit  to  have  your  arms  taken  from  you,  your  estates 
confiscated,  and  yourselves  made  to  swear  allegiance  to  a  con 
stitution  which  common  sense  tells  you  is  iniquitous  ?  Will 


1787.  LETTER  OF  ELI  PARSONS.  327 

you  sit  still  and  look  on  while  the  yeomanry  of  the  common 
wealth  are  parched  and  hewn  in  pieces  by  the  merciless  tools 
of  tyranny  ?  He  then  expressed  a  pious  wish  for  the  tongue  of 
a  ready  writer,  that  he  might  impress  on  their  minds  some 
idea  of  the  duties  of  freemen.  What  these  duties  were  he 
wrent  on  to  specify.  He  was  collecting  troops,  he  said,  at  New 
Lebanon,  in  York  State,  and  at  Pownal,  in  Vermont.  He  was 
fully  determined  to  carry  his  point,  if  fire,  blood,  and  carnage 
could  do  it.  In  this  laudable  purpose  it  was  the  duty  of  every 
freeman  to  assist.  He  begged,  therefore,  that  all  friends  of  his 
cause  would,  without  delay,  hasten  to  meet  him  in  Berkshire, 
and  there  help  him  to  "  burgoyne  "  Lincoln  and  his  army.  The 
letter  was  dated  February  fifteenth  and  ended  with  a  request  to 
pass  it  along.* 

Had  Parsons  been  as  ready  with  his  sword  as  he  was  with 
his  pen,  the  threat  of  burgoyning  Lincoln  might  easily  have 
been  accomplished.  Six  days  after  the  date  of  the  letter,  the 
thirty  days  for  which  the  militia  had  been  called  out  ex 
pired.  Their  place  was  to  be  filled  by  fifteen  hundred  troops 
lately  enlisted  for  four  months.  But  during  the  exchange  Lin 
coln  had  at  one  time  only  thirty  men.  This  opportunity,  hap 
pily,  was  lost  to  the  malcontents.  It  was  not  indeed  till  the 
twenty-sixth  of  February  that  a  considerable  force  came  over 
the  line  from  New  York.  Captain  Hamlin  commanded  them, 
marched  them  to  Stockbridge,  plundered  it,  and  went  off  with 
a  number  of  the  first  characters  in  the  town  as  prisoners.  The 
militia  of  Sheffield  and  Great  Barrington  flew  to  arms  and 
hastened  after  them.  But  the  troops  were  ignorant  of  the 
movements  of  the  enemy,  marched  now  in  one  direction  and 
then  in  another,  as  the  leaders  saw  fit  to  command,  and  at  last, 
in  disgust,  started  home  by  way  of  Springfield,  where,  to  the 
surprise  of  all,  the  rebels  were  found  in  force.  On  the  ap 
proach  of  the  militia,  Hamlin  ordered  his  prisoners  to  the  front 
and  gave  the  word  to  fire.  But  the  troops  came  on  steadily,  in 
good  order,  and  firing  as  rapidly  as  they  could. '  For  six  min 
utes  the  action  was  severe  and  many  of  Hamlin's  men  fell. 
This  alarmed  them  and  they  broke  and  fled  in  every  direction, 
leaving  two  dead  and  thirty  wounded  on  the  ground.  The  loss 

*  United  States  Chronicle,  March  1,  1787. 


328    THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.     CHAP.  m. 

of  the  troops  was  two  killed  and  one  wounded,  while  two  strip 
lings  who  were  with  them  died  from  exposure  and  fatigue. 

Once  more  the  fugitives  found  a  secure  resting-place  over 
the  border.  But  it  was  not  long  before  even  this  was  taken  from 
them.  Several  weeks  before  the  fight  at  Springfield,  letters 
had  been  dispatched  to  the  Governors  of  the  neighboring  States 
acquainting  them  with  the  fact  that  they  were  harboring  rebels, 
and  urging  them  to  take  measures  for  bringing  the  refugees  to 
justice.  And  now  the  replies  began  to  come  in.  All,  with  the 
exception  of  that  from  Rhode  Island,  were  gracious  and  full  of 
promises.  The  Governor  of  Rhode  Island  did  indeed,  on  the 
same  day  that  Parsons  put  forth  his  letter,  assure  Bowdoin  that 
he  would  do  all  in  his  power  to  assist  in  keeping  good  order. 
But  he  soon  found  that  he  had  promised  for  himself  alone. 
When  the  motion  was  made  in  the  Assembly  to  instruct  the 
Governor  to  issue  a  proclamation  for  the  apprehension  of  the 
rebels,  a  violent  debate  followed,  and,  when  the  question  was 
put,  it  was  discovered  that  the  Nays  had  it  by  a  majority  of 
twenty-two.  While  the  voting  was  going  on,  as  the  Massachu 
setts  authorities  were  greatly  enraged  to  learn,  one  of  the  rebels 
was  honored  with  a  seat  in  the  chamber. 

The  Governor  of  Connecticut  sent  assurances  on  the  twen 
tieth  of  February  that  if  any  rebels  came  into  the  State  they 
should  instantly  be  given  up.  That  the  farmers  along  the  State 
line  might  be  stimulated  to  be  vigilant  and  prompt  to  act,  a 
large  reward  was  promised  to  any  one  who  should  be  so  fortu 
nate  as  to  catch  a  leader.  In  New  Hampshire  a  major-general 
was  instructed  to  arrest  all  bodies  of  armed  men  coming  into 
the  State.  Clinton,  so  soon  as  he  received  the  letter  of  Lin 
coln  acquainting  him  of  the  support  the  malcontents  had  in 
New  York,  and  of  the  incursion  of  the  twenty-sixth  of  Febru 
ary,  hastened  to  lay  the  matter  before  the  Legislature.  There 
a  resolution  was  passed  urging  him  to  go  with  all  speed  to  the 
towns  where  the  rebels  were.  He  was  also  bidden  to  call  out 
such  militia  as  he  might  need,  and,  whenever  he  saw  fit,  to 
leave  the  State.  Three  regiments  of  militia  were  accordingly 
commanded  to  be  put  under  arms.  The  Governor  then  set  off 
from  New  York,  met  Lincoln,  and  went  with  him  to  New  Con 
cord. 


1787.       MALCONTENTS  FIND  REFUGE  IN  VERMONT.         329 

Measures  so  vigorous  caused  much  alarm  among  the  refu 
gees,  and  soon  small  bands  of  horsemen  were  seen  moving 
quickly  along  the  roads  that  led  to  the  Vermont  border.  For 
once  over  the  line  they  had  good  reason  to  think  they  would 
be  in  a  safe  place.  Indeed,  for  a  time  it  seemed  likely  that 
Vermont  would  follow  the  example  of  Rhode  Island.  So  early 
as  the  thirteenth  of  February,  Lincoln  sent  Royal  Tyler,  who 
was  then  acting  as  one  of  his  aids,  to  urge  the  Governor  of 
Vermont  to  assist  in  capturing  the  rebels.  After  some  difficulty 
he  obtained  an  audience  of  the  Governor  and  made  known  his 
mission.  The  Governor  heard  him  with  attention,  expressed 
regret  at  the  lamentable  turn  of  affairs  in  Massachusetts,  and 
said  something  about  doing  what  he  could,  and  did  nothing. 
When  he  was  pressed  to  act  he  offered  first  one  excuse  and 
then  another  for  the  delay.  At  last  Tyler,  greatly  disgusted  at 
his  reception  and  feeling  convinced  that  no  aid  was  to  be  had 
from  Vermont,  put  his  demands  in  writing  and  took  his  leave. 
This  communication  was  in  time  laid  before  the  Legislature,* 
was  referred  to  a  committee,  and  a  report  brought  in  recom 
mending  a  proclamation  to  be  issued  forbidding  the  people  to 
harbor  or  abet  the  rebel  leaders.  In  this  the  Lower  House 
concurred,  and  sent  the  report  up  to  the  Council.  There  it 
was  supported  by  eight  or  nine  assistants,  and  would  indeed 
have  passed,  but  the  Governor  for  the  first  time  spoke  out. 
It  was,  he  said,  plainly  the  interest  of  the  State  of  Vermont  to 
encourage  immigration.  If,  however,  the  proclamation  came 
out,  emigration  from  the  neighboring  States  would  surely  be 
checked,  for  no  one  would  dare  to  come  oyer  the  border  lest  he 
should  be  stopped  and  treated  as  a  Massachusetts  rebel.  The 
sense  of  the  people,  too,  was  against  the  measure.  There 
could  be  no  mistaking  the  meaning  of  the  armed  mob  that  was 
fast  gathering  in  the  next  town.f  These  arguments  were 
deemed  conclusive  by  the  Council.  A  proclamation  did,  how 
ever,  come  forth  on  the  twenty-seventh  of  the  month  4  But 
it  was  well  understood  to  be  a  mere  matter  of  form.  No  at 
tention  was  paid  to  it,  and  the  rebels  were  free  to  come  and  go 

; 

*  In  Council,  February  17,  1787.     Laid  before  the  Assembly  the  same  day. 
t  In  Council,  February  24,  1787.     See  Governor  and  Council  of  the  State  of 
Vermont,  vol.  iii,  pp.  875-379.  \  Vermont  Gazette,  March  5,  1787. 


330    THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TEADE  AND  COMMEECE.    CHAP.  m. 

as  they  pleased.*  On  the  first  of  March  Pennsylvania  set  a 
price  on  Shays  and  his  fellow-leaders. 

The  rest  of  the  spring  and  summer  was  spent  in  the  trial 
of  the  prisoners.  A  few  of  the  most  malignant  suffered  pun 
ishment  ;  but  the  others  were  thought  to  have  been  sufficiently 
punished  by  their  long  confinement  in  the  jails,  and  were  per 
mitted  to  go  free.  A  general  pardon  was  also  extended  to  such 
of  the  rebels  as  should,  before  a  fixed  time,  return  to  their  alle 
giance  and  take  the  oaths.  It  was  not,  however,  thought  pru 
dent  to  disband  the  army  till  the  twenty-first  of  September. 

The  conduct  of  Rhode  Island  in  sheltering  the  Massachu 
setts  rebels  surprised  no  one.  The  control  of  that  State  wras  in 
the  hands  of  men  who  sympathized  heartily  with  the  malcon 
tents,  and  she  was  now  about  entering  on  that  long  career  of 
infamy  which  did  not  terminate  till  Washington  had  been  some 
months  President.  When  the  war  ended  and  the  people  once 
more  returned  to  peaceful  pursuits,  it  became  apparent  that  men 
were  nowhere  so  discordant,  so  dissatisfied,  so  hard  to  please,  as 
in  Rhode  Island.  Grievances  such  as  elsewhere  were  borne 
with  a  few  grumbles  were  there  thought  to  be  quite  intolera 
ble.  The  people  were  especially  disposed  to  give  a  trial  to 
every  one  of  the  innumerable  schemes  for  reform  which  then 
distracted  the  country.  No  plan  that  the  brain  of  man  could 
concoct  seemed  too  absurd.  Any  one  who  could  suggest  a  new 
way  of  paying  debts,  cutting  down  taxes,  or  increasing  trade, 
was  sure  of  a  patient  hearing  and  a  large  following ;  but  the 
favorite  just  then  was  the  establishment  of  wrhat  was  called  a 

*  It  is  stated  that  on  February  17th  a  troop  of  horse  from  Massachusetts  rode 
into  Marlborough,  Vermont,  in  search  of  Luke  Day,  and,  on  being  asked  for  their 
authority,  said  they  had  license  from  Governor  Chittenden.  Vermont  Gazette, 
February  26,  1787.  On  April  30th  about  one  hundred  of  the  fugitives  met  at 
Shaftsbury,  but  the  people,  becoming  alarmed,  called  on  the  judge  and  the  county 
sheriff  to  disperse  them,  and  they  went  on  to  White  Creek,  in  New  York.  Ver 
mont  Gazette,  May  7,  1787.  But  on  June  5th  Governor  Hancock  informed  the 
Legislature  of  Massachusetts  "that  those  who  have  been  in  opposition  to  Govern 
ment  have,  from  Vermont  and  New  Hampshire,  repeatedly  made  incursions  into 
this  State,  with  the  intent  to  plunder  and  carry  off  the  friends  of  Government." 
Vermont  Gazette,  July  16.  1787.  See,  also,  a  letter  from  Ethan  Allen  to  Colonel 
Benjamin  Simmons,  in  Clinton  Papers.  No.  5,863.  Durham  and  Baker,  two  of 
Shays's  party,  were  afterward  taken  on  the  Onion  river.  Vermont  Gazette,  July 
30,  1787. 


1786.  PAPER  MONEY  IN  KHODE  ISLAND.  331 

bank  of  paper  money.  It  was  not  a  new  scheme.  So  early  as 
1784  the  supporters  of  the  idea  had  attained  to  very  formida 
ble  numbers.  But  January,  1785,  came  before  the  first  trial  of 
strength  was  made.  A  petition  bearing  scores  of  names  and 
praying  for  the  issue  of  a  bank  was  then  sent  to  the  Legisla 
ture.  But  the  sentiments  of  the  people  were  not  shared  by 
their  representatives.  The  long  list  of  signatures  had  no 
weight  with  men  who  held  estates,  who  had  money  out  on 
mortgage,  who  saw  in  the  list  the  scrawls  which  passed  for  the 
names  of  debtors  owing  them  large  sums,  and  who  looked  with 
dread  on  the  day  when,  for  the  coin  they  had  loaned,  they 
should  receive  back  bags  and  pillow-cases  full  of  paper.  When, 
therefore,  the  time  came  for  taking  action  on  the  petition,  a 
great  muster  was  made,  all  the  seats  were  filled,  and,  the  votes 
being  counted,  it  appeared  that  the  Nays  were  greatly  in  the 
majority. 

The  result  enraged  but  did  not  dishearten  the  petitioners. 
It  was,  they  said,  now  quite  evident  who  were  and  who  were 
not  their  friends,  and  it  would  go  hard  with  them  if  the  paper 
bank  did  not  in  the  next  Legislature  find  ample  support.  Nor 
was  this  threat  by  any  means  an  idle  one.  A  new  party  was 
quickly  organized,  the  State  actively  canvassed,  and,  in  the 
spring  of  1786,  the  paper  advocates  went  to  the  polls  confident 
of  success.  The  difficulty  of  communicating  between  the  capi 
tal  and  the  remote  parts  of  the  State  was  such  that  some  time 
elapsed  before  the  results  of  the  election  were  known.  Indeed, 
they  were  not  accurately  known  till  the  Legislature  met  on  the 
first  Monday  in  May,  when  it  was  found  that  fully  one  half  of 
the  assistants  and  thirty-eight  out  of  seventy  deputies  had  lost 
their  seats,  and  in  their  stead  were  men  devoted  to  the  paper 
scheme.  The  bank  men  were  delighted.  Their  victory  was 
complete.  The  call  for  the  land-tax  was  instantly  remitted. 
The  excise  law  was  suspended.  A  paper  bank  of  one  hundred 
thousand  pounds  was  ordered.*  In  the  course  of  the  debate 
which  preceded  the  passage  of  the  bill  it  was  noticed  that  the 
speakers  on  the  affirmative  were  invariably  from  the  country 
districts,  and  the  debaters  on  the  negative  as  invariably  from 

*  Arnold's  History  of  Rhode  Island.  Rhode  Island  Colonial  Records,  vol.  x, 
May,  1786. 


332     THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.     CHAP.  m. 

the  rich  seaboard  towns.  Newport,  Providence,  Bristol,  Wes 
terly,  each  sent  up  men  trained  in  the  great  school  of  commerce 
and  trade,  familiar  with  all  questions  of  finance,  and  who  well 
knew  that  a  Spanish  milled  dollar  was  a  very  different  thing 
from  a  promise  to  pay,  some  time  in  the  future,  a  Spanish 
milled  dollar,  and  that  no  body  of  deputies  under  the  sun  had 
skill  enough  in  alchemy  to  transmute  paper  into  coin. 

But  no  argument  which  they  could  advance  could  turn  the 
votes  of  men  who  had  come  up  for  the  express  purpose  of 
abolishing  taxes,  suspending  the  excise,  and  emitting  a  currency 
which  was,  in  their  belief,  to  flow  into  their  pockets  much  faster 
than  it  could  possibly  flow  out.  The  bill  was  passed,  the  paper 
came  forth,  and,  as  the  Newport  and  Providence  men  had 
asserted,  the  depreciation  began  with  the  issue.  The  law  de 
clared  that  the  bills  should  be  loaned  according  to  the  appor 
tionment  of  the  late  tax,  that  they  should  be  paid  into  the 
Treasury  at  the  end  of  fourteen  years,  and  that  every  one  of 
the  farmers  or  merchants  who  came  to  borrow  a  few  hundred 
pounds  must  pledge  real  estate  for  double  the  sum  demanded. 
Many  from  all  parts  of  the  State  made  haste  to  avail  them 
selves  of  their  good  fortune,  and  mortgaged  fields  strewn  thick 
with  stones  and  covered  with  cedars  and  stunted  pines  for  sums 
such  as  could  not  have  been  obtained  for  the  richest  pastures. 
They  had,  however,  no  sooner  obtained  the  money,  and  sought 
to  make  the  first  payment  at  the  butcher's  or  the  baker's,  than 
they  found  that  a  heavy  discount  was  taken  from  the  face  value. 
This,  in  the  opinion  of  the  large  holders  of  the  paper,  was  an 
outrage.  Things  were  come  to  a  pretty  state  if  the  Legislature 
were  not  to  be  allowed  to  say  what  was  and  what  was  not 
money.  The  very  right  which  justified  the  G-overnment  in 
taking  a  piece  of  copper  or  a  piece  of  silver,  stamping  it,  and 
calling  it  a  penny  or  a  sixpence,  justified  the  Government  in 
taking  a  piece  of  paper,  stamping  it,  and  calling  it  a  sixpence  or 
a  shilling.  If  it  were  lawful  for  the  State  to  issue  hard  money, 
it  was  surely  lawful  for  the  State  to  issue  paper  money.  The 
metal  of  the  coin  had,  it  was  true,  an  intrinsic  value  which  the 
paper  had  not ;  but  to  say  that  gold  and  silver  were  on  that 
account  better  than  paper  was  to  talk  nonsense.  The  hard  cur 
rency  was  secured  by  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  metal  which  was 


1T86.  THE   FORCING  ACT.  333 

an  imaginary  security,  one  that  could  neither  be  touched  nor 
seen.  The  security  of  the  paper  money  was  far  better ;  it  was 
real ;  it  was  broad  acres  of  land  which  fire  could  not  consume 
and  which  water  would  not  destroy.  In  fact,  the  paper  money 
was  as  good  as  metal  money,  and  every  man  who  did  not  take 
it  willingly  should  be  made  to  take  it  unwillingly.  A  call  was 
made  for  a  forcing  act,  which  the  Legislature  quickly  passed. 
Every  one  who  should,  according  to  this  act,  refuse  to  take  the 
bills  in  payment  for  gold,  or  should  in  any  way  discourage  their 
circulation  was  to  be  fined  one  hundred  pounds  and  lose  the 
rights  of  a  freeman.  The  effect  of  the  law  was  to  make  worse 
the  matter  it  was  designed  to  mend.  The  merchants  denounced 
it  as  iniquitous,  and  declared  that  they  would  pack  up  their 
goods  and  set  off  for  another  State  before  they  would  submit 
to  so  wicked  an  act.  Indeed,  they  refused  almost  to  a  man  to 
make  any  sales.  The  traders  followed  their  example  and  closed 
their  shops  or  disposed  of  their  stock  by  barter.  For  a  time 
business  was  at  an  end,  and  money  almost  ceased  to  circulate 
except  among  the  supporters  of  the  bank.  Rent  was  paid  in 
grain ;  nor  was  it  by  any  means,  in  some  towns,  a  rare  thing  to 
see  cobblers  exchanging  shoes  for  meat,  and  shopkeepers  taking 
cords  of  wood  for  yards  of  linen. 

Providence  and  Newport  presented  a  most  doleful  appear 
ance.  Half  the  shops  were  closed.  Scarce  any  business  was 
done.  On  the  street-corners  stood  crowds  of  idle  men,  chatter 
ing,  it  was  said,  like  magpies.  Some  were  denouncing  the  paper 
party  for  having  made  the  tender  laws ;  others  for  not  carry 
ing  them  out.*  The  disputes  often  ended  in  blows,  and  street 
fights  became  of  almost  daily  occurrence. f 

The  refusal  of  the  merchants  to  sell  provoked  the  farmers 
to  retaliation.  If,  they  said,  the  merchants  would  not  dispose 
of  any  goods  to  them,  they  in  turn  would  not  sell  anything  to 
the  shopkeepers.  They  would  not  bring  a  pound  of  produce 
to  market  till  people  came  to  their  senses  and  took  the  bills  for 
what  the  Legislature  had  declared  them  to  be  worth.  And  to 
this  determination  they  strictly  adhered.  Travellers  along  the 
roads  were  no  longer  forced  to  turn  out  to  make  way  for  long 

*  New  York  Gazetteer,  August  24,  1786. 

f  New  York  Gazetteer  and  Daily  Evening  Post,  July  28,  1786. 


334:    THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.     CHAP.  m. 

trains  of  wagons  creaking  under  the  weight  of  tons  of  hay,  sacks 
of  corn,  kegs  of  cider,  of  boxes  filled  with  huge  cheeses,  and 
baskets  overflowing  with  vegetables  and  fruit.  On  the  farms 
the  butter  accumulated  on  the  dairy-shelves.  The  cattle  feasted 
on  produce  that  used  to  be  sent  to  town.  When  market-day 
came  round,  the  farmer  slept  many  hours  later  than  was  his 
wont,  while  his  daughters  no  longer  dispatched  him  with  little 
commissions  and  counted  the  hours  till  his  return. 

Some  attempts  were  indeed  made  to  dispose  of  the  produce 
at  Boston,  in  Connecticut,  at  New  York.  But  a  notice  was 
put  up  in  all  the  coffee-houses  warning  merchants  against  a 
combination  of  the  abettors  of  the  iniquitous  paper  money  of 
Rhode  Island.  These  farmers,  the  notice  stated,  had  failed  in 
their  credit  with  the  merchants  of  Rhode  Island,  and  were  now 
endeavoring,  by  offering  quantities  of  flaxseed,  barley,  and 
cheese,  deliverable  in  the  fall,  to  get  a  credit  for  West  India 
goods  at  New  York.* 

It  was,  however,  only  in  the  great  towns  that  real  distress 
was  felt.  There  the  scanty  stock  of  food  grew  scarcer  and 
scarcer  every  day.  Corn  rose  to  fifteen  shillings  a  bushel. 
New  England  rum  stood  at  ten  shillings  a  gallon.  But  not  a 
drop  was  to  be  had  at  any  price  in  paper,  f  For  a  time  this 
was  submitted  to  in  patience.  It  was  hoped  that  the  merchants 
would  give  way,  or  the  farmers  of  Massachusetts,  tempted  by 
the  high  prices,  would  send  in  provisions  from  their  farms. 
But  even  these  hopes  failed,  and  measures  of  relief  became  im 
perative.  At  Newport  the  sufferers  grew  violent.  The  town 
at  that  time  laid  some  claim  to  commercial  importance,  and  con 
tended  with  Providence  and  Bristol  for  the  honor  of  being  the 
first  city  of  the  State.  Her  shipping  brought  together  many 
men  who  followed  the  sea  for  a  living,  or  managed  to  gain  a 
livelihood  by  rendering  such  services  as  were  required  by  ships 
just  come  in,  or  just  about  to  depart.  They  cared  nothing  for 
principles  and  much  for  comfort.  Whether  money  was  made 
of  paper  or  silver  was,  they  thought,  a  small  matter,  for  little 
enough  would  in  either  case  come  to  them.  It  seemed  the 

*  New  York  Gazetteer  and  Daily  Evening  Post,  August  24, 1786.     Boston  Ga 
zette,  September  4,  1786. 

f  New  York  Gazetteer,  September  13,  1786. 


1786.  THE   SUFFERING  AT  PROVIDENCE.  335 

height  of  folly  to  go  hungry  in  order  that  a  few  rich  men 
might  keep  up  one  side  of  a  controversy  which,  however  it 
ended,  would  not  help  them  a  whit.  Whether  the  farmers  or 
the  merchants  had  the  better  cause  of  complaint  they  knew 
not.  But  they  did  know  that  the  merchants  held  the  grain, 
and  they  made  up  their  minds  to  get  it. 

A  number  of  them  accordingly  came  together,  put  two  men 
named  Wanton  and  Anthony  in  command,  and  began  to  insist 
that  the  stores  where  corn  was  lodged  should  be  opened  and 
the  grain  sold  for  paper.  Most  of  the  merchants  gave  the  riot 
ers  no  heed.  But  among  them  was  a  Quaker,  who,  alarmed  by 
threats  of  violence,  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to  give  his  cheek  to 
the  smiter,  and  consented.  This  the  merchants  would  not  suf 
fer.  In  a  few  hours  a  great  crowd  of  friends  of  hard  money 
were  assembled  about  the  Quaker's  store  to  defend  it.  Words 
were  bandied  with  the  mob,  threats  exchanged,  and  the  passions 
of  each  party  so  much  excited  that  a  conflict  seemed  at  hand. 
At  this  stage  the  Governor  and  two  of  the  Council  appeared, 
went  about  among  the  crowd,  and  succeeded  in  restoring  order.* 

And  now  the  anger  of  the  people  turned  against  the  farm 
ers,  and  threats  of  breaking  open  cribs  and  robbing  rich  barns 
were  made  openly  on  all  sides. f 

At  Providence  the  distress  caused  by  the  scarcity  of  food 
was  felt  with  equal  severity.  But  better  counsel  prevailed  than 
at  Newport.  No  disturbance  broke  out,  and  when  July  came, 
and  the  two  parties  were  still  determined  to  hold  out,  a  town- 
meeting  was  called  to  decide  on  a  plan  of  relief.  The  attend 
ance  was  large.  The  speakers  were  numerous.  The  discussion 
was  animated.  The  suggestions  were  as  many  as  the  debaters. 
But  the  sense  of  the  meeting  was  finally  announced  to  be  that 
it  was  no  more  than  fair  each  side  should  give  up  something. 
It  was  recommended  to  the  farmers  that,  if  any  one  among  them 
saw  fit  to  bring  his  sheep  or  his  grain  to  market,  they  should 
not  molest  him,  but  suffer  him  to  do  so  in  peace  and  quiet.  It 
was  recommended  to  the  shopkeepers  that  they  should  open 
their  doors  and  make  sales  to  every  well-disposed  farmer,  and  that 
the  terms  of  all  sales  should  be  such  as  the  buyer  and  the  seller 

*  New  York  Gazetteer  and  Country  Journal,  August  1,  1786. 
f  Ibid.,  August  1,  1786. 


336     THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.     CHAP.  m. 

should  agree  upon  for  themselves.  It  was  resolved  that  five 
hundred  dollars  should  be  borrowed  and  sent  into  some 
other  State  to  buy  corn  for  the  relief  of  persons  destitute  of 
bread. 

The  meeting  then  broke  up.  The  delegates  went  home 
with  the  comfortable  assurance  that  they  had  by  a  few  wise  sug 
gestions  saved  their  fellow-townsmen  from  the  horrors  of  a 
famine.  They  were  sure  that  each  party  would  make  the  con 
cessions  asked ;  that  the  shopkeepers  would  take  down  their 
shutters,  that  the  great  merchants  would  dispose  of  their  goods, 
that  the  fanners  would,  after  some  bluster,  once  more  bring  in 
their  produce,  that  trade  would  revive,  and  food  be  plenty. 
But  they  were  much  mistaken.  Many  to  whom  the  recom 
mendations  were  addressed  received  them  with  open  contempt. 
Indeed,  a  few  weeks  had  scarce  gone  by  when  a  call  came  out 
for  a  convention  of  towns  to  devise  means  for  enforcing  the 
bank  act.  Scituate  was  named  as  the  place,  and  the  tenth  of 
August  as  the  day  of  meeting.  But  nothing  was  done.  For  the 
delegates  were  no  sooner  met  than  they  adjourned  and  went  off 
to  East  Greenwich,  where  the  State  Convention  was  to  sit. 
When  the  roll  was  called  it  appeared  that  sixteen  towns  had 
sent  up  representatives,  most  of  them  picked  men,  and  pledged 
to  support  none  but  vigorous  measures.  What  these  vigorous 
measures  were  soon  became  evident.  It  was  moved  and  carried 
to  stand  by  the  acts  of  the  General  Assembly.  That  body, 
which  happened  to  be  in  session  at  the  time,  was  next  urged  to 
enforce  the  penal  laws  in  behalf  of  paper  money.  The  farmers 
were  asked  to  make  no  sales  of  produce  to  the  enemies  of  the 
bank.  But  the  convention  was  by  no  means  unanimous  even 
upon  these  points.  Five  delegates  had  come  up  from  Provi 
dence  fully  determined  to  labor  in  the  cause  of  the  merchants 
and  traders,  and  as  the  three  motions  were  brought  forward, 
they  combated  them  with  great  energy  and  patience.  The 
five  repeatedly  rose  up  one  after  the  other  to  protest,  to  counsel 
moderation,  to  beg  for  concessions,  to  offer  plans  for  a  compro 
mise,  and  succeeded  in  changing  a  few  votes.  But  the  majority 
stood  firm,  and  the  motions  passed.  The  same  day  a  new  forc 
ing  act  was  carried  at  Newport.  Providence,  Bristol,  North 
Shoreham,  Newport,  and  Warren  protested.  But  the  only 


1786.  THE  FORCING  ACT  IN  THE   COURTS.  337 

notice  taken  of  the  protest  was  to  forbid  the  clerk  to  make  any 
entry  of  it  on  the  minutes. 

And  now  the  rage  for  town-meetings  and  county  conven 
tions  was  at  its  height.  Those  of  Providence,  Scituate,  and 
East  Greenwich  followed  hard  upon  each  other,  and  before  the 
first  of  September  it  was  known  that  a  convention  for  Provi 
dence  county  would  be  held  upon  the  thirteenth.  All  the 
towns  and  villages  sent  up  delegates.  The  whole  state  of  the 
country  was  gone  into.  But  the  state  of  trade  particularly  ar 
rested  their  attention.  It  was  pronounced  most  deplorable ; 
and  in  searching  for  some  persons  on  whom  to  lay  the  blame, 
they  fell  upon  the  merchants,  flatly  accused  them  of  exporting 
specie,  of  importing  costly  goods,  and  of  producing  the  mani 
fold  ills  from  which  society  was  suffering.  A  new  way  of  trad 
ing  was  then  recommended.  The  State  of  Rhode  Island  and 
Providence  Plantations,  it  was  asserted,  possessed  many  things 
for  which  there  was  great  demand  abroad.  Her  fish,  her  prod 
uce,  her  lumber,  were  much  sought  after.  But  few  things 
came  from  abroad  which  her  people  could  not  easily  dispense 
with  excepting  gold  alone.  The  proper  course  to  be  pursued 
was  manifestly  for  the  Government  to  take  commerce  into  its 
own  hands.  Let  the  Legislature  name  a  committee.  Let  the 
committee  provide  ships,  and  the  tax-collector  cargoes.  For 
labor,  lumber,  produce,  fish,  and  oil  might  be  received  in  pay 
ment  of  taxes  as  well  as  money.  Let  these  be  carried  across 
the  water  and  sold  for  specie,  or  traded  for  such  goods  as  were 
really  needed.  Then  would  the  balance  of  trade  be  turned, 
money  would  be  easy  and  taxes  would  be  light,  for  the  great 
gains  of  traffic  would  flow  into  the  coffers  of  the  Treasury 
instead  of  the  pockets  of  the  merchants.  If  some  men  persist 
ed  in  trading  on  their  own  account,  well  and  good.  Let  them 
do  so ;  but  make  them  in  return  for  this  liberty  pay  heavy 
duties  in  hard  money,  and  not,  as  was  their  wont,  in  interest 
certificates. 

But  while  the  convention  was  wrangling  over  the  best  way 
to  regulate  trade,  and  the  easiest  way  to  drive  paper  into  circu 
lation,  the  whole  question  of  the  legality  of  the  forcing  acts 
came  up  in  the  courts.  A  Newport  butcher  named  John 
Weeden  had  among  his  customers  a  strong  paper-money  man 

VOL.  i. — 23 


338     THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.     CHAP.  m. 

named  John  Trevett.  Trevett,  who  was  a  cabinet-maker,  pre 
sented  himself  at  the  market  one  day,  purchased  a  few  pounds 
of  beef,  and  tendered  in  payment  some  of  the  new  money. 
Weeden  refused  to  take  paper  shillings  at  their  par  value, 
and  Trevett,  in  a  rage,  lodged  a  complaint  against  him.  As 
this  was  the  test  case,  the  excitement  attending  it  was  in 
tense.  The  hearing  began  almost  immediately.  Indeed,  it 
was  expressly  stated  in  the  forcing  act,  passed  at  the  summer 
session  of  the  Assembly,  that  all  offences  against  the  bank 
law  should  be  tried  within  three  days  after  the  complaint 
was  entered  ;  that  there  should  be  no  jury  ;  that  three 
judges  should  make  a  quorum ;  that  their  decision  should 
be  final ;  and  that,  if  any  man  were  hardy  enough  to  refuse 
to  obey  it,  he  should  be  locked  up  in  jail.  The  framers 
of  this  shameful  law  had  hoped  by  these  means  to  place  the 
goods,  the  estates,  the  liberty  of  every  hard-money  man  in 
the  State  at  the  mercy  of  the  courts.  And  as  the  judges 
were  removable  at  the  will  of  the  Assembly,  there  seemed 
much  reason  to  believe  that  the  law  would  be  vigorously  ex 
ecuted.  When  the  day  of  trial  came,  the  benches  in  the 
court-room  were  packed,  every  inch  of  standing-room  was 
taken,  while  a  great  crowd,  unable  to  get  in,  stood  under  the 
windows  or  jostled  each  other  about  the  doors.  Each  side  was 
represented  by  able  counsel,  for  the  contest  was  in  truth  not 
between  Trevett  and  Weeden,  but  between  the  farmers  and 
the  merchants,  between  those  who,  having  mortgaged  their 
lands  for  the  paper  issue,  now  struggled  hard  to  keep  it  at  par, 
and  those  who,  recalling  the  disastrous  times  of  1779,  struggled 
hard  to  prevent  a  shilling  of  the  paper  from  ever  getting  out 
of  the  hands  of  its  holders.  The  first  day  was  taken  up  in 
listening  to  counsel  on  each  side.  The  excitement  of  the  au 
dience  was  intense.  The  debate  was  warm,  and  conducted  with 
great  animosity.  Indeed,  two  of  the  judges  so  far  forgot  them 
selves  as  to  speak  against  the  act  from  the  bench.  On  the 
second  day  the  court  rendered  its  decision.  Howell  was  ap 
pointed  to  deliver  it.  When  he  began  to  speak  a  death-like 
stillness  was  in  the  room,  but  when  he  was  done  the  shout  of 
exultation  that  went  up  from  the  benches  announced  to  the 
crowd  without  that  Weeden  had  won,  and  that  the  odious  act. 


1786.  THE  TEST  OATH.  339 

had  been  pronounced  unconstitutional  by  the  court.  *  Then 
the  spirit  of  the  victorious  party  swelled  up  high  and  strong. 
But  Trevett  and  his  friends,  deeply  mortified  and  enraged,  went 
off  muttering  threats  of  vengeance  against  the  court.  In  this 
frame  of  mind  were  many  of  the  assemblymen,  and  before  their 
anger  had  begun  to  cool  they  were  summoned  to  Newport  to  a 
special  session  of  the  Legislature.  The  first  act  of  this  body 
was  to  command  the  five  stubborn  judges  to  come  before  it. 
Two  pleaded  sickness  and  stayed  away.f  Three  came,  were 
sharply  questioned  as  to  their  behavior,  browbeaten,  and  finally 
told  that  their  case  was  laid  over  till  the  fall  session  by  which 
time  it  was  hoped  their  sick  brethren  would  have  quite  recov 
ered.  The  members  then  went  on  to  do  the  worst  act  of  their 
lives. 

The  paper  was  still  in  the  hands  of  its  first  takers.  No  one 
else  could  be  found  who  would  receive  it  at  the  face  value.J 
Many  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  it  on  any  terms,  and 
there  seemed  much  reason  to  believe  that  the  late  decision  of 
the  court  would  make  these  people  more  determined  than  ever. 
It  was  felt  that  a  new  forcing  act  must  be  passed,  and  that  the 
new  one  must  be  stringent.  An  iron-clad  oath,  to  which  the 
name  of  the  Test  Oath  was  given,  was  accordingly  framed 
and  brought  in.  Every  man  who  took  this  swore  in  a  most 
solemn  manner  to  do  his  utmost  to  support  the  paper  bank,  and 
to  take  the  money  at  par.  But  as  it  was  wisely  believed  no 
one  would  take  the  oath  of  his  own  accord,  a  long  list  of  pen 
alties  was  provided  for  those  who  did  not.  Ship-captains  were 
forbidden  to  come  in  or  go  out  of  the  ports  of  the  State  till 
they  had  taken  the  oath.  Lawyers  were  not  to  practice,  men 
were  not  to  vote,  politicians  were  not  to  run  for  office,  members 

*  New  York  Gazetteer,  October  6,  1786.  See,  also,  a  pamphlet  entitled  The 
Case  of  Trevett  against  Weeden,  on  Information  and  Complaint  for  Refusing 
Paper  Bills  in  Payment  for  Butcher's  Meat  at  Par  with  Specie,  by  J.  M.  Varnum, 
Providence,  1787.  See,  also,  Boston  Gazette,  October  2,  1786;  United  States 
Chronicle,  October  5,  1786  ;  Providence  Gazette,  October  7,  1786;  Newport  Mer- 
cury,  October,  1786. 

f  Annals  of  Providence.  Colonial  Records  of  Rhode  Island,  vol.  x.  Varnum's 
pamphlet,  The  Case  of  Trevett  against  Weeden. 

^  The  rate  of  exchange  when  paper  was  negotiated  was  four  dollars  in  papei 
for  one  in  coin.  See  New  York  Gazetteer,  September  13,  1786. 


340    THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.     CHAP,  nu 

of  the  next  Legislature  were  not  to  take  their  seats,  till  they 
had,  upon  their  solemn  oaths,  declared  that  paper  was  as  good 
as  gold.*  In  this  form  the  law  went  before  the  people.  Town- 
meetings  were  immediately  called  to  discuss  it.  But  the  par 
tisans  of  the  bank  had  by  their  own  violence  inflicted  a  deep 
injury  upon  their  cause.  Many  honest  and  fair-minded  men, 
who  were  prepared  to  welcome  with  delight  the  appearance 
of  a  paper  currency,  were  not  prepared  to  vote  for  the  bill. 
They  believed  that  the  new  money  would  lighten  many  bur 
dens.  To  them,  taking  the  oath  would  be  a  small  matter. 
But  they  shrank  from  the  thought  of  giving  their  assent  to  a 
law  that  forbade  men  of  a  different  mind  to  sail  their  ships, 
to  cast  their  votes,  to  practice  their  professions,  to  hold  any 
office  of  public  trust,  till  they  had  come  before  an  officer  of  the 
law  and,  stammering  and  stuttering  from  shame,  called  their 
Maker  to  witness  that  they  would  do  a  thing  they  thought  to 
be  both  foolish  and  wicked.  There  was  also  some  fear  of  a 
great  exodus.  It  seemed  likely  that  a  number  of  rich  mer 
chants  and  prosperous  tradesmen  would,  before  submitting  to 
so  degrading  an  act,  pack  up  their  goods,  desert  their  homes, 
and  set  off  for  a  neighboring  State.  Everywhere  the  oath  was 
denounced  in  the  strongest  terms ;  and  when  the  returns  were 
all  in,  it  was  found  that  but  three  towns  had  given  an  assenting 
vote.  At  North  Kingston,  Scituate,  and  Forster,  those  who  ap 
proved  so  far  outnumbered  those  who  opposed  the  bill  that  the 
delegates  were  instructed  to  support  it  in  the  Legislature.  Their 
support  was  of  no  use.  In  November  the  Test  Act  was  thrown 
out  by  an  overwhelming  majority.  Four  of  the  judges  were  at 
the  same  time  dismissed.  The  forcing  acts  declared  void  by 
the  courts  were  repealed,  and  death  pronounced  against  all 
forgers  of  the  new  currency. 

Meanwhile,  the  effects  of  the  issue  began  to  be  felt.  The 
paper  went  down  steadily  till  six  dollars  in  rag  money  would 
not  buy  one  dollar  in  coin.  Then  landholders  who  had  cov 
ered  the  few  acres  they  called  their  farms  with  mortgages 
made  haste  to  lift  them.  The  Court  of  Common  Pleas  at 
every  sitting  was  thronged  with  suitors  anxious  to  make  de- 

*  New  York  Packet,  October,   1786.     United  States  Chronicle,  October  12, 
1786. 


1786.  TROUBLES  IN  NEW   HAMPSHIRE.  341 

posits.  The  newspapers  were  filled  with  notices  by  the  judges 
that  sums  in  lawful  money-bills  had  been  deposited  with  the 
court  by  men  who  had  in  every  respect  complied  with  the  law 
respecting  paper  money.*  In  Washington  county  alone  more 
than  twenty  bills  in  equity  for  the  redemption  of  estates  were 
on  file.  On  the  day  put  down  for  the  sitting  of  the  court  the 
petitioners  came,  bringing  with  them  their  money.  But  as  the 
sums  were  large  and  the  money  bulky  they  found  it  impossi 
ble  to  bring  it  in  their  pockets.  Some,  therefore,  carried  the 
bills  in  handkerchiefs,  some  in  pillow-cases.  One  huge  bag 
containing  more  than  fourteen  thousand  dollars  in  paper  was 
dragged  in,  and  the  court  asked  to  count  it  and  record  the  ten 
der.  This  the  judge  stoutly  refused  to  do,  told  the  petitioner 
that  it  was  not  for  the  court  to  prove  a  tender,  and  that  he 
would  not  touch  the  money  till  after  judgment  had  been 
reached.  He  then  put  off  the  trial  of  all  cases  till  the  follow 
ing  term.f 

The  shameful  course  which  the  'paper  party  had  thus  for  a 
year  past  been  following  in  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island 
was  undoubtedly  an  extreme  one.  Yet  it  was  closely  imitated 
in  New  Hampshire.  The  State  then  contained  a  population 
of  less  than  one  hundred  and  forty  thousand  souls ;  and  if  the 
accounts  the  people  gave  of  themselves  are  to  be  trusted,  there 
was  not  anywhere  another  one  hundred  and  forty  thousand 
men  so  burdened  with  taxation,  so  bowed  down  with  debt,  so 
short  of  money.  Their  troubles  had  first  become  unbearable 
about  February,  1785.  They  then  resorted  to  the  usual  mode 
of  correction.  Town-meetings  were  held.  Commerce,  the  state 
of  trade,  the  courts,  the  lawyers,  the  taxes,  and  the  finances  were 
fully  looked  into.  The  conclusion  was  that  the  easiest  and 
speediest  way  to  obtain  relief  was  to  put  out  more  paper 
money.  A  petition  was  drawn  up,  signed  by  many  hands,  and 
sent  in  to  the  Legislature.  But  a  new  difficulty  arose.  Some 
men,  who  clearly  understood  what  the  petitioners  did  not, 


*  New  York  Gazetteer,  September  27,  1786.     Pennsylvania  Packet,  September 
23,  1786.     The  Newport  Mercury,  and  the  United  States  Chronicle,  a  Providence 
paper,  have  each  of  them  whole  columns  of  such  notices  during  the  months  of 
September,  October,  and  November,  1786. 
t  Bull's  Memoirs  of  Rhode  Island. 


342    THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.    CHAP,  in, 

undertook  to  expostulate  with  them.  What,  they  were  asked, 
would  be  gained  by  a  new  issue  ?  No  paper  money  unsecured 
by  coin  was  worth  the  trouble  of  printing.  The  State  had  no 
funds,  and  it  was  not  in  the  power  of  the  State  to  establish  any 
funds  with  which  to  secure  paper  from  depreciation.  Make 
the  bills,  it  was  said,  a  legal  tender,  and  secure  them  with  land. 
To  this  it  was  answered,  with  great  force,  that  the  State  Con 
stitution  expressly  forbade  the  Legislature  to  make  a  retrospec 
tive  law.  It  could  not  therefore  make  paper  a  tender  in  the 
future  for  contracts  made  on  a  coin  basis  in  the  past.  It  might 
enact  that  paper  should  be  a  legal  tender  for  the  payment  of 
debts  to  be  contracted  in  times  to  come.  But  this  would  not 
mend  matters,  for  the  debtors  were  suffering  from  past  en 
gagements,  and  these  would  still  exist.  As  to  loaning  the  bills 
on  land,  that  would  be  to  put  it  in  the  power  of  the  public 
debtor  to  buy  up  the  paper  at  a  discount  and  pay  his  taxes  with 
it  at  the  Treasury.  This  would  be  most  disastrous  to  the  State. 
For  while  the  coffers  were  overflowing  with  paper,  the  Gov 
ernment  would  suffer  all  the  embarrassment  of  poverty.  There 
was,  they  were  assured,  but  one  way  to  cure  their  ills,  and  that 
way  was  to  be  diligent  and  frugal ;  to  build  up  manufactures 
and  to  practice  agriculture. 

This  plain  statement  of  the  truth  was  received  with  deri 
sion.  Be  diligent !  Where  was  there  a  set  of  men  who  rose 
earlier,  toiled  harder,  and  lay  down  later  than  they.  Be  frugal ! 
How  could  they  be  otherwise.  Scarce  able  to  keep  clothes  on 
their  backs  and  food  in  their  mouths,  deeply  in  debt,  with  all 
the  money  in  the  State  in  the  hands  of  the  rich,  and  not  a 
shilling  to  be  borrowed  except  at  a  ruinous  interest,  it  would 
be  very  hard  to  be  spendthrifts.  As  to  manufactures,  they 
would  have  none  of  them.  Massachusetts  had  ventured  largely 
in  manufactures,  and  was  poorer  than  ever. 

In  this  determination  they  clamored  yet  more  loudly  for  a 
new  issue  of  bills.  The  newspapers,  too,  lent  their  aid  ;  called 
on  their  readers  to  assert  their  rights,  and  published  long  tirades 
the  burden  of  which  was  that  the  Governor  and  the  represen 
tatives  were  public  servants,  and  that  public  servants  must  be 
made  to  do  the  public  will.  This  advice  was  speedily  taken. 
A  demand  was  made  for  a  tender  law,  and  a  tender  law  was 


1786.  PAPER  MONEY  IN  NEW  HAMPSHIRE.  343 

passed.  It  was  then  the  fashion  in  l^ew  Hampshire,  as  indeed 
it  was  everywhere,  to  lock  men  up  in  jail  the  moment  they 
were  so  unfortunate  as  to  owe  their  fellows  a  sixpence  or  a 
shilling.  Had  this  law  been  rigorously  executed  in  the  autumn 
of  1785,  it  is  probable  that  not  far  from  two  thirds  of  the  com 
munity  would  have  been  in  the  prisons.  At  least  that  number 
stood  in  hourly  fear  of  the  sheriff.  All  such  were  therefore 
delighted  to  hear  that  when  a  debtor,  so  the  new  law  provided, 
should  tender  to  his  creditor,  in  satisfaction  of  an  execution  for 
debt,  either  real  or  personal  estate  sufficient  to  cover  the  debt, 
his  body  should  be  exempt  from  jail.  But  many  of  the  men 
who  made  this  law  were  creditors,  and,  knowing  that  they 
would  often  be  forced  to  take  great  quantities  of  worthless 
property,  inserted  what  they  believed  was  a  saving  clause.  If 
the  goods  tendered  were  not  to  the  liking  of  the  creditor,  he 
could  refuse  them,  keep  his  claim  alive,  take  out  an  alias  within 
a  year,  and  levy  on  any  property  of  the  debtor  he  could  find. 
But  the  benefit  was  all  with  the  debtor.  When  an  execution 
was  about  to  be  taken  out,  the  farmer  made  haste  to  evade  it. 
His  good  clothes  and  his  good  furniture  were  concealed.  His 
cattle  were  driven  to  a  neighbor's  pasture.  His  rich  lands,  his 
house  and  chattels  were  made  over  to  a  relative,  and  when  the 
sheriff  came  he  was  found  to  possess  meadows  which  grew 
nothing  but  iron-weed,  thistles,  and  mulleins,  cattle  too  weak 
to  stand  up,  hens  too  old  to  lay,  a  few  dilapidated  wagons, 
and  a  barn  just  ready  to  tumble  about  his  ears.  The  result 
was  that  those  to  whom  debts  were  due  ceased  to  press  for 
payment,  and  those  who  owed  were  slower  than  ever  to  pay.* 

Yet  the  courts  and  the  lawyers  grew  more  detested  every 
day.  They  were  expensive.  They  were  unnecessary.  Those 
who  had  cases  to  be  tried  complained  that  between  attorneys' 
fees,  entrance-fees,  and  taxes,  they  were  almost  ruined  before 
judgment  was  reached.  Those  who  had  no  cases  to  be  tried 
complained  that  it  was  the  height  of  injustice  that  they  should 
be  made  to  contribute  to  the  support  of  institutions  from  which 
they  had  not  derived  and  never  would  derive  the  least  benefit. 
Such  language  had  long  been  confined  to  a  few,  and  had  ex 
cited  no  very  general  comment.  Sometimes  an  angry  farmer 

*  Belknap's  History  of  New  Hampshire,  vol.  ii. 


344    THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.     CHAP.  in. 

would  set  forth  his  views  upon  the  subject  in  the  Gazette. 
Sometimes  a  disappointed  office-seeker  would  stand  up  at  town- 
meeting  and  declare  that  the  courts  and  the  lawyers  were  grind 
ing  the  faces  of  the  poor ;  that  the  attorneys  grew  rich  while 
their  neighbors  approached  beggary ;  that  their  fees  were  too 
large  and  their  numbers  too  great.  But  in  June,  1786,  the  mat 
ter  was  taken  up  in  a  serious  way.  The  tender  act  had  then 
greatly  increased  the  number  of  cases  in  the  courts.  The  judges 
were  run  down  with  business.  The  hands  of  the  sheriff  were 
full  of  writs.  The  people  became  exasperated.  The  Inferior 
Court  was,  they  said,  nothing  better  than  a  sinecure  for  clerks 
and  judges.  The  whole  process  of  justice  so  called,  the  de 
faulting,  the  demurring,  the  abatements,  the  fees,  and  the  bills 
of  cost,  was  a  burden  that  could  no  longer  be  endured.  But 
they  determined,  before  proceeding  to  extreme  measures,  to  go 
through  the  form  of  a  convention.  Concord  was  chosen  as  the 
place.  The  time  was  to  be  during  the  June  session  of  the  Leg 
islature,  for  it  was  thought  that  a  little  intimidation  might  have 
a  wholesome  effect  on  that  body.  The  appointed  day  came, 
and  found  but  five  of  the  delegates  in  town.  Some  had  been 
detained  by  the  length  of  their  journeys,  some  by  the  difficul 
ties.  There  was,  however,  at  Concord  a  noted  wag,  who  deter 
mined  to  turn  the  wisdom  of  the  council  into  foolishness.  He 
accordingly  sought  the  acquaintance  of  the  five,  pretended  to 
be  a  fellow-delegate,  introduced  some  ten  or  twelve  boon  com 
panions  as  on  a  like  mission,  talked  much  of  the  value  of  time, 
and  urged  the  delegates  to  send  out  a  call  for  the  convention  to 
meet  immediately.*  They  quickly  fell  into  the  trap.  The  call 
was  posted.  The  meeting  was  held,  and  some  sixteen,  includ 
ing  the  five  regular  members,  were  present.  Everything  that 
touched  on  the  situation  was  debated  in  the  most  absurd  man 
ner.  Finally  a  set  of  extravagant  resolutions  passed,  which  the 
convention,  in  solemn  procession,  carried  to  the  Assembly.  It 
was  recommended  that  three  millions  of  dollars  should  be  put 
out  on  landed  security,  that  the  Inferior  Court  should  be  abol 
ished,  and  free  trade  established  with  the  whole  world.  The 
number  of  the  lawyers,  moreover,  was  too  great.  Two  wrere 
ample  for  each  county.  This  instrument  was  received  by  the 

*  Belknap's  History  of  New  Hampshire,  vol.  ii. 


1786.  THE   COURT  AT  EXETEE  BKOKEN   UP.  345 

Legislature  with  a  great  show  of  gravity,  for  the  members  had 
been  let  into  the  secret,  was  laid  upon  the  table  and  ever  after 
Buffered  to  remain  there.  The  convention  then  dissolved  and 
the  five  started  for  home.  But  scarce  were  they  out  of  town 
when  the  regular  delegates  began  to  come  in.  The  joke  was 
soon  known  to  every  one,  and  the  real  representatives,  morti 
fied  and  enraged,  went  to  their  homes.* 

July  and  August  passed  away  in  comparative  quiet.  With 
September  came  the  first  signs  of  violence.  Early  on  the 
morning  of  the  twentieth,  four  hundred  men,  horse  and  foot, 
assembled  at  the  little  village  of  Kingston,  some  six  miles  out 
of  Exeter,  where  the  General  Court  was  sitting.  There  they 
chose  a  leader  and  got  hold  of  a  drum.  Several  militia-men 
who  had  borne  arms  in  the  revolution,  and  who  happened  to 
be  among  them  undertook  to  teach  the  raw  ones  such  military 
tactics  as  the  time  would  allow,  and  showed  them  how  to  form 
in  column,  to  march,  to  deploy,  to  form  in  line  of  battle,  and 
to  fire.f  It  was  then  found  that  near  one  hundred  had  mus 
kets;  the  rest  were  armed  with  swords  and  staves.  Toward 
afternoon  all  arrangements  were  completed,  and  about  four 
o'clock  the  mob  entered  Exeter.  At  first  they  effected  a  mili 
tary  parade  up  and  down  the  main  street,  but  soon  drew  up  in 
front  of  the  meeting-house  where  the  General  Court  was  in 
session.  An  officer  they  called  Moderator  was  then  sent  in 
witli  a  paper,  and  told  to  demand  an  instant  reply  to  an  old 
petition  sent  in  on  September  fifth.  The  House  in  great  alarm 
appointed  a  committee  of  three  to  meet  three  from  the  Senate 
and  consider  what  answer  should  be  made.  But  the  Senate, 
not  to  be  overawed  by  a  display  of  arms,  unanimously  non- 
concurred  in  the  resolution  of  the  House.J  A  conference  was 
then  asked  for,  was  granted,  and  the  two  bodies  met.  The 
President  informed  the  House  of  the  reasons  that  had  led  the 
Senate  to  non-concur.  They  were,  he  said,  surrounded  by  a 
crowd  of  men  carrying  arms  in  their  hands.  To  grant  the 
petition  under  such  circumstances  would  be  simply  to  destroy 
all  freedom  of  action  for  the  future.  To  grant  the  petition 
under  any  circumstances  would  be  folly,  for  it  was  the  petition 

*  New  York  Packet,  September  11,  1786.  f  Ibid.,  October  2,  1786. 

\  Belknap's  New  Hampshire,  vol.  ii. 


34:6    THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.    CHAP.  m. 

of  but  thirty  towns  out  of  three  hundred.  The  House  acknowl 
edged  the  force  of  this  reasoning ;  the  conference  ended,  and 
the  mob  were  curtly  told  that  the  General  Court  would  not 
consider  their  paper.  "When  the  Moderator  announced  this, 
shouts  of  indignation  went  up  on  every  side.  The  drums  beat 
to  arms,  and,  after  something  like  order  was  restored,  the  whole 
line,  muttering  vengeance,  marched  off  and  surrounded  the 
meeting-house.  Those  who  carried  muskets  were  ordered  to 
load  with  ball.  They  did  so.  Sentries  were  then  placed  at 
the  doors  and  strictly  enjoined  to  suffer  no  one  to  go  in  or 
come  out.  Meanwhile  the  business  of  the  House  went  on  with 
as  much  deliberation  as  if  the  crowd  at  the  doors  were  specta 
tors  and  not  rioters.  It  was  long  after  sunset  when  the  Presi 
dent  left  the  chair  and  attempted  to  quit  the  building.  The 
sentinels  stopped  him.  He  reasoned  very  coolly  with  them, 
pointed  out  the  f  oolhardiness  of  the  course  they  were  pursuing, 
called  on  them  to  lay  down  their  arms,  and  assured  them  that 
the  forces  of  the  State  would  support  the  Government  to  the 
last.  This  they  told  him  flatly  was  a  great  lie.  He  attempted 
to  respond,  but  was  interrupted  with  cries  of  "  Paper  money ! 
Equal  distribution  of  property !  Annihilate  our  debts !  Release 
us  from  the  taxes ! "  In  the  midst  of  the  shouting  he  went 
back  to  his  seat  to  wait  patiently  till  relief  should  come.  Nor 
did  he  wait  long.  Shortly  after  dusk  a  drum  was  heard  beat 
ing  in  the  distance.  Then  came  huzzas  for  Government,  and 
cries  of  "  Bring  up  the  artillery."  The  rioters,  thinking  that  a 
great  force  was  upon  them,  made  a  hasty  retreat,  and  their 
prisoners  walked  out  unmolested.*  That  night  was  spent  in 
preparation  for  the  morrow.  The  militia  were  collected ;  the 
services  of  a  number  of  gentlemen  were  accepted,  and  just 
after  sunrise  the  next  morning  the  whole  body,  with  the  Presi 
dent  at  its  head,  sought  the  insurgents.  They  were  found 
drawn  up  in  front  of  a  tavern  out  of  town.  On  the  approach 
of  the  soldiers  they  wavered,  broke,  and  fled.  Some  few  came 
to  a  stand  at  King's  Fall  bridge,  and  made  a  show  of  fighting. 
The  order,  indeed,  to  fire  was  given  by  the  leader  of  the  mal- 

*  New  York  Packet,  October  2,  1786.  New  York  Gazetteer,  October  2,  1786. 
New  Brunswick  Gazette,  October  5,  1786.  An  Account  by  an  Eye-witness.  See 
Historical  Magazine,  January,  1869,  pp.  37,  38. 


1786.  TROUBLES  IN  VERMONT.  347 

contents.  But  a  rush  w^s  made  by  the  Government  forces; 
and,  when  the  confusion  was  over,  the  Moderator  with  forty 
of  his  followers  were  prisoners.  This  ended  the  affair.  Some 
time  later  the  Assembly  prepared  a  plan  for  the  issue  of  paper 
money,  and  sent  it  to  the  towns  for  ratification.  The  returns 
were  not  all  in  till  January,  1787.  It  then  appeared  that  the 
number  of  towns  that  had  voted  'No  was  very  greatly  in  excess 
of  the  number  of  towns  that  had  voted  Yes.  Two  questions 
were  next  put  to  vote  in  the  Assembly :  Could  the  Legislature 
pass  an  act  making  paper  money  a  legal  tender  for  debts  con 
tracted  before  the  passage  of  the  act  ?  Ought  paper  money  to 
be  put  out  on  any  plan  yet  proposed  ?  Each  of  these  questions 
passed  in  the  negative. 

The  acts  of  the  paper  party  in  Vermont  must  be  narrated 
more  briefly.  Vermont  had  not  at  that  time  been  admitted  to 
the  Union.  Her  citizens  did  indeed  exercise  all  the  rights  of 
sovereignty,  but  it  was  not  till  the  Constitution  became  law 
that  they  were  suffered  to  send  representatives  to  the  Federal 
Council.  Nine  years  before,  in  the  darkest  hour  of  the  war, 
the  men  of  the  southern  counties  of  what  was  then  known 
as  the  New  Hampshire  Grants  had  risen  up,  renounced  their 
allegiance,  asserted  their  independence,  chosen  a  Governor  and 
Assembly,  formed  a  State  and  called  it  by  the  name  of  "  New 
Connecticut,  alias  Vermont." '  The  independence  of  New 
Connecticut  was  soon  after  acknowledged  by  New  Hampshire. 
But  many  settlers  had  come  in  from  New  York,  had  made 
clearings,  laid  out  farms,  built  villages  and  towns,  and  had  paid 
their  taxes  to  New  York.  The  great  State,  proud  of  so  pros 
perous  a  community,  steadfastly  refused  to  give  up  jurisdic 
tion  over  it ;  and  in  a  little  while  the  peace  of  New  Connecti 
cut  was  disturbed  by  the  contentions  of  two  parties.  To  one 
the  name  of  Yorkers  was  given ;  the  other  assumed  that  of 
Vermonters.  For  seven  years  their  treatment  of  each  other 
would  have  delighted  two  Indian  tribes  on  the  war-path.  Their 
history  during  this  time  is  a  shameful  record  of  wanton  attacks 
and  reprisals,  of  ambuscades  laid  in  the  dead  of  night,  of  mur 
der,  arson,  and  bloodshed.  At  last,  after  the  spring  of  1784, 

*  Slade's  Vermont  Sfote  Papers,  pp.  68-73.  Hall's  History  of  Eastern  Vermont, 
vol.  i,  p.  253. 


348    THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMEPwCE.     CHAP.  m. 

New  York  ceased  to  press  her  claims  with  violence,  and  thence 
forth  the  Yermonters  governed  their  State  in  quiet.  But  no 
sooner  had  one  set  of  evils  been  removed  than  another  pre 
sented  itself.  One  half  the  community  was  totally  bankrupt ; 
the  other  half  was  plunged  in  the  depths  of  poverty.  The 
year  which  had  elapsed  since  the  affair  at  Yorktown  had  not 
brought  all  the  blessings  that  had  been  foretold.  They  were 
still  out  of  the  Union;  money  had  never  been  so  scarce ;  taxes 
had  never  been  so  large ;  their  debts  had  never  been  so  many ; 
their  creditors  were  as  merciless  as  the  Yorkers.  Nobody 
seemed  to  thrive  but  the  judges,  who  drew  fat  salaries  out  of 
the  taxes,  and  the  attorneys,  who  wrung  large  fees  out  of  the 
people. 

The  evils  of  this  state  of  affairs  were  indeed  great ;  but  the 
irritable  temper  in  which  the  people  then  were,  and  the  labors 
of  men  sent,  it  was  believed,  by  the  authorities  of  New  York, 
magnified  them  a  hundred  fold.*  For  a  time  their  complaints 
were  confined  to  the  tavern  and  the  fireside.  But  soon  a  coun 
tryman,  who  had  brooded  in  indignation  over  his  troubles  till 
he  could  contain  himself  no  longer,  prepared  an  address  to  the 
farmers  of  Bennington  county,  and  published  it,  over  the  sig 
nature  of  A  Poor  Farmer,  in  the  Gazette.  His  paper  was  long, 
but  the  gist  of  it  may  be  given  in  a  few  words.  If  any  one 
would  be  at  the  pains  of  examining  the  tax-list  for  the  year 
1784,  he  must  surely  see  that  one  half  of  the  sum  set  down  for 
Bennington  county  was  to  pay  the  court  for  sitting.  What 
right,  reason,  or  justice  was  there,  he  wished  to  know,  in  this  ? 
Why  should  he,  and  a  hundred  other  poor  fanners  like  him, 
who  owed  nothing  and  owned  less,  who  never  had  a  case  iri 
court,  and  who  never  intended  to  have  a  case  in  court,  be 
made  to  pay  the  cost  of  its  sitting  ?  The  tax  was  too  severe, 
and  he  felt  some  desire  to  know  how  long  the  men  of  Ben 
nington  would  bear  it.f 

A  few  weeks  after  the  appearance  of  this  address  a  number 
of  men  from  Wells  and  five  or  six  of  the  adjoining  towns  held 
a  meeting,  discussed  the  matter,  and  drew  up  resolutions  for  a 

*  On  the  presence  of  agents  from  New  York  in  Vermont,  see  some  letters  in 
New  York  Gazetteer  and  Daily  Evening  Post,  November  6  and  December  13,  1786, 
f  Vermont  Gazette,  January  31,  1786., 


1786.  THE   ADDRESS   OF   THE   GOVERNOR.  349 

redress  of  grievances.  They  were  not  printed  and  are  now 
lost.  Yet  it  is  possible  to  form  some  idea  of  them  from  a  dog 
gerel  poem,  in  Hudibrastic  metre,  that  came  out  in  the  Gazette 
and  was  largely  copied  by  the  other  newspapers.  The  strain 
of  this  poem  was  that  attorneys  ought  to  be  expelled  from  the 
courts,  debts  cancelled,  and  that  if  the  legislators  would  not 
pass  these  laudable  acts,  it  would  be  an  easy  matter  to  make 
them.  But  the  interval  between  discontent  and  open  rebellion 
is  always  a  long  one,  and  more  than  two  years  and  a  half  went 
by  before  the  threats  were  carried  out.* 

Matters,  in  the  mean  time,  in  place  of  mending,  became  more 
and  more  disheartening,  till  in  the  summer  of  1I&6  they  reached 
such  a  pass  that  they  were  made  the  subject  of  an  address  by 
the  Governor.  Chittenden  then  filled  the  chair  of  state,  and 
the  address  he  put  forth  was  quite  characteristic  of  the  man 
and  the  times.  The  coarseness  of  the  style,  the  flippancy  of 
some  of  his  remarks  and  the  intemperance  of  others,  was  such 
as  might  be  expected  in  a  political  pamphlet  gotten  up  for 
campaign  purposes,  but  would  now  be  thought  singularly  out 
of  place  in  a  grave  state  paper.  The  causes,  he  said,  of  the 
trouble  were  not  hard  to  find.  As  Joshua  of  old  had  com 
manded  the  sun  to  stand  still,  so,  during  the  war,  men  had 


*  As  poems  of  this  kind  were  by  no  means  uncommon  in  the  newspapers  of 
that  time,  it  may  be  worth  while  to  give  a  few  lines  as  a  specimen : 
Whereas  the  Assembly  of  the  State 
Have  dar'd  audaciously  of  late, 
With  purpose  vile,  the  Constitution 
To  break  or  make  a  wicked  use  on, 
By  making  laws  and  raising  taxes, 
And  viler  still  (so  truth  of  fact  is) 
By  keeping  up  that  smooth-tong'd  clan, 
For  ages  curs'd  by  God  and  man, 
Attorneys,  whose  eternal  gabble 
Confounds  the  unexperienced  rabble. 

These  lawyers  from  the  courts  expel, 
Cancel  our  debts  and  all  is  well — 
But  should  they  finally  neglect 
To  take  the  measures  we  direct, 
Stifl  fond  of  their  own  power  and  wisdom, 
We'll  find  effectual  means  to  twist  'em. 
Vermont  Gazette,  February  28  and  March  6, 1786.     Vermont  Journal,  March  24th. 


350    THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TEADE  AND  COMMERCE.     CHAP.  m. 

commanded  their  creditors  to  be  patient.  The  consequence 
was  that  debts  had  greatly  accumulated,  that  payment  for  them 
all,  now  the  war  was  over,  was  demanded  at  the  same  time,  and 
suits  followed.  Law-cases  had  become  so  numerous  that  there 
was  not  money  enough  in  the  State  to  pay  for  entering  them, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  fees  of  the  officers  and  attorneys.  Yet 
but  few  of  them  were  disputable.  Most  of  the  time  of  the  court 
was  taken  up  in  hearing  what  the  lawyers  call  shunage,  an  at 
tempt  to  put  off  execution.  As  a  remedy  for  this,  one  cried, 
"  A  tender  act "  ;  another,  "  A  bank  of  money"  ;  a  third,  "  Kill 
the  lawyers."  These  were  but  temporary  cures,  and  could  not 
remove  the  cause  of  the  disease.  He  then  told  them  that  if 
they  would  attend  to  their  own  business,  be  frugal,  be  diligent, 
practice  agriculture,  stop  importing  English  linens,  and  set  their 
wives  to  spinning,  their  troubles  would  soon  end.  Vermont 
was  an  inland  State ;  transportation  was  very  expensive.  Every 
body  ought  therefore  to  raise  whatever  he  could,  and  if  he  did 
so  he  would  find  that  nineteen  twentieths  of  his  wants  were 
supplied.  The  other  twentieth  might  come  from  abroad  and 
should  be  well  taxed.  The  present  system  of  taxation  was  all 
wrong.  Revenues  ought  not  to  be  raised  on  the  commodities, 
but  on  the  luxuries  of  life ;  and  among  the  luxuries  were  im 
portations  and  lawsuits.  None  but  idle  and  litigious  men  went 
to  court,  and  they  should  be  made  to  pay  for  it.  If,  however, 
a  bank  of  money  was  insisted  upon,  a  very  small  one  should  be 
struck,  the  funds  loaned  to  such  as  would  pay  a  reasonable  in 
terest,  and  made  a  legal  tender  for  all  debts  on  which  a  prose 
cution  had  been  commenced.  Then  four  fifths  of  the  lawsuits 
would  instantly  stop,  and  half  the  sheriffs,  a  great  part  of  the 
constables,  and  all  the  pettifoggers  might  go  to  work.* 

The  address  came  out  in  the  Gazette  of  the  twenty-eighth 
of  August.  The  very  next  number  contained  news  of  the  first 
outbreak,  f  On  the  fifteenth  of  the  month  the  Supreme  Court 
held  a  sitting  at  Rutland.  Two  hundred  gentlemen,  who,  as 
the  writer  expressed  it,  "  were  not  directly  touched  or  infringed 
upon  by  that  banditti  of  pick-pockets,  the  attorneys,"  rode  into 
Rutland  as  representatives  of  ten  neighboring  towns.  'No  vio- 

*  Vermont  Gazette,  August  28,  1786.     Vermont  Journal,  September  4,  1786, 
f  Vermont  Gazette,  August  31,  1786. 


1786.  PETITIONS  TO  THE   ASSEMBLY.  351 

lence  took  place,  but  a  great  show  of  strength  was  made,  and  a 
spirited  resentment  manifested  that  so  many  good  subjects  of 
the  State  should  be  harassed,  confused,  and  put  to  extreme 
cost  by  those  unhappy  members  of  society.  A  postscript  to 
this  piece  of  news  called  upon  ah1  lawyers  who  read  it  to  have 
a  care  how  they  imposed  upon  men  who  had  passed  through 
the  wilderness,  and  had  endured  fire,  famine,  and  the  sword  in 
defence  of  their  rights. 

Windsor  was  next  visited.  It  had  been  announced  that  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  the  county  would  sit  at  that  town 
on  the  last  day  of  October.  Some  threats  had  been  muttered 
at  the  tavern  that  whether  the  court  sat  or  not  would  depend 
on  the  wishes  of  the  people.  But  as  the  mutterers  were  deep 
in  their  cups,  the  threats  excited  no  attention  tih1,  on  the  day 
the  court  was  to  open,  some  thirty  men  from  the  villages 
round  about  came  into  town  in  a  body.  Stebbins,  a  broken- 
dowii  farmer,  and  Morrison,  a  blustering  fellow  who  shod  the 
horses  and  mended  the  carts  of  the  farmers  for  several  miles 
around  Windsor,  commanded  the  mob.  As  soon  as  their  busi 
ness  was  known,  the  sheriff,  with  the  State's  attorney,  hastened 
to  the  malcontents,  expostulated  with  them,  read  the  riot  act, 
and  called  upon  the  crowd  to  disperse.  Some  of  the  more  tur 
bulent  became  excited,  stoutly  refused  to  move,  and  flung  stones 
at  the  sheriff.  An  attempt  was  made  to  arrest  them,  but  they 
were  dragged  off  by  their  better-disposed  comrades  and  lost  in 
the  multitude.* 

At  the  very  time  the  malcontents  were  annoying  the  court 
at  Windsor  the  General  Assembly  was  voting  on  a  resolution 
framed  for  their  relief.  It  seems  that  during  the  fall  months 
men  who  were  not  yet  ready  to  take  up  arms  had  been  busy  all 
over  Vermont  holding  town-meetings  and  preparing  petitions 
to  the  Assembly.  Nine  had  been  sent  up,  and  were  read  by 
the  clerk  on  the  eighteenth  of  October.  They  were  all  of  a 
piece :  the  taxes  were  unjustly  levied  ;  the  lawyers  were  a  nui 
sance  ;  the  costs  of  the  courts  were  excessive.  The  bad  spell- 
(ing,  the  lack  of  punctuation,  and  the  misuse  of  words  told  pre 
cisely  from  what  class  of  men  the  papers  came.  Yet  it  seemed 
not  unlikely  that  the  wildest  requests  of  the  petitioners  would 

*  Pennsylvania  Packet,  December  27,  1786. 


352     THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.     CHAP.  m. 

be  granted,  for  in  the  House  then  assembled  all  the  passions, 
prejudices,  and  turbulence  of  the  people  were  fully  represented. 
One  of  the  first  acts  of  a  stormy  session  was  a  Specific  Tender 
Act.  By  this  the  creditor  was  made  to  take  on  execution,  after 
the  time  of  agreement,  such  articles  of  personal  property  as  the 
debtor  had  agreed  to  give.  But  this  gave  small  relief,  for  most 
of  the  debtors  were  as  destitute  of  personal  property  as  they 
were  of  money.  Some  clamored  for  a  general  tender  forcing  the 
creditor  to  take  any  tiling  the  debtor  offered.  Others  as  strenu 
ously  insisted  on  a  bank  of  paper  money.  And  there  seemed 
much  reason  to  think  that  both  parties  would  be  gratified.  At 
this  stage  of  the  affair  Nathaniel  Chipman  came  up  to  Rutland. 
Chipman  was  a  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  a  man 
of  considerable  parts,  and  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  temper 
of  the  House.  He  became  alarmed,  sounded  several  members, 
and,  finding  them  much  of  his  mind,  urged  them  to  come  to 
his  room  and  talk  over  matters.  They  did  so.  The  grievances 
of  the  people,  both  real  and  imaginary,  their  inflamed  passions, 
the  turbulent  spirit  of  the  greater  part  of  them,  the  violence  of 
the  Assembly,  and  the  ruinous  measure  it  was  about  to  pass, 
were  quietly  discussed.  It  was  agreed  that  to  attempt  to  stem 
such  a  current  would  be  foolish.  The  wisest  course,  they 
thought,  would  be  to  yield,  and,  while  they  went  with  the  tide, 
seek  to  guide  and  check  it.*  To  accomplish  this  end  a  pream 
ble  and  set  of  resolutions  were  made  ready  and  presented  the 
next  day.  The  instrument  was  framed  with  much  care.  In 
the  preamble  were  mentioned  some  of  the  measures  the  Assem 
bly  had  already  taken,  and  some  of  the  measures  the  multitude 
were  very  anxious  it  should  take.  The  resolutions  instructed 
the  first  constable  in  each  town  to  summon  the  freemen  of  the 
place  to  meet  on  the  first  Tuesday  in  January,  1787,  and  to  count 
their  Yeas  and  Nays  on  the  two  great  questions  before  them  : 
Should  a  paper  bank  be  issued  ?  Should  the  Tender  Act  be 
continued  ?  f  When  the  resolutions  came  up  for  debate  in  the 
House  they  were  vigorously  attacked ;  for  a  few  were  sharp 
enough  to  see  that  such  a  document,  coming  from  the  opposi 
tion  party,  meant  not  concession  but  delay.  The  framers,  how- 

*  Thompson's  Civil  History  of  Vermont,  p.  79. 

f  Vermont  Gazette,  November  13,  1786.     Journal,  November  20,  1786. 


1T87.  THE  COURT  AT  RUTLAND.  353 

ever,  were  ready  with  a  popular  argument.  The  sufferings  of 
the  people,  it  was  said,  were  severe.  Relief  of  some  kind  had  be 
come  absolutely  necessary.  The  great  question  of  the  hour  was, 
What  is  the  best  way  of  giving  relief  ?  Of  this  the  people,  no 
one  surely  would  deny,  were  the  best  judges.  It  ought  there 
fore  to  be  submitted  to  their  decision.*  This  reason  prevailed, 
and  the  resolutions  were  passed.  It  was  afterward  remarked 
by  superstitious  housewives  that  no  good  would  ever  come  of 
the  bill.  Every  noted  day  in  its  history  had  been  one  of  dis 
turbance.  The  day  it  was  carried  through  the  House  the  Court 
of  Common  Pleas  was  attacked  at  Windsor.  The  day  it  was 
made  public  in  the  Gazette  the  Superior  Court  was  broken  up 
at  Windsor.  The  day  it  was  printed  in  the  Journal  the  County 
Court  was  set  upon  at  Rutland. 

When  the  four  judges  had  taken  their  seats,  word  was 
brought  in  that  the  court-house  was  surrounded  by  a  great 
multitude,  armed  with  bludgeons,  with  rusty  muskets,  and 
with  old  swords.  Many  in  the  crowd  were  mere  lads ;  others 
were  tavern  -  haunters,  demagogues,  and  men  of  the  lowest 
order.  There  were,  however,  scattered  here  and  there  among 
them  a  few  of  the  first  characters  of  the  place,  f  So  soon 
as  the  judges  were  told  of  the  gathering,  the  sheriff  was  com 
manded  to  adjourn  the  court  till  afternoon.  The  order  had 
hardly  been  obeyed  when  a  committee  came  in  from  the  mal 
contents,  bearing  a  petition  that  the  court  should  adjourn  with 
out  day.  They  were  heard  with  civility,  and  dismissed  with 
the  answer  that  when  the  docket  had  been  called,  and  the  busi 
ness  of  the  day  dispatched,  their  request  would  be  thought 
over4  This  reply  was  carried  back  to  the  mob.  Instantly  they 
flew  into  a  rage.  But  as  nothing  could  be  done,  they  waited 
with  great  impatience  till  the  court  met  in  the  afternoon.  Then 
a  hundred  of  the  malcontents  rushed  into  the  room  in  a  most 
insolent  and  riotous  manner.  A  certain  Thomas  Lee  was  at 
the  head  of  them.  Lee  passed  among  his  fellows  as  a  man  of 


*  See  the  account  given  by  Daniel  Chipman  in  Records  of  Governor  and  Coun 
cil,  Vermont,  vol.  iii,  pp.  364,  365. 

f  Caverly's  History  of  Pittsford,  p.  252. 

\  The  written  answer  of  the  court  may  be  seen  in  the  Vermont  Gazette,  De 
cember  11,  1786. 

VOL.    I. — 24 


35-i    THE  LOW  STATE  OF  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE.    CHAP,  m, 

some  education ;  had  served  in  the  late  war,  had  risen  to  the 
rank  of  colonel,  had  become  beggared,  had  been  locked  up  in 
the  jail  for  debt,  had  liberated  himself  by  being  admitted  to 
the  poor  man's  oath,  and  was  ready  for  the  most  desperate 
enterprise.  The  moment  he  was  in  the  room  he  began  to 
harangue  and  threaten  the  court  for  not  having  complied  with 
the  petition  of  the  morning.  His  language  indeed  became  so 
insolent  and  offensive  that  he  was  cut  short  in  the  midst  of  his 
speech  by  a  command  to  the  sheriff  to  adjourn  the  court.  This 
was  quickly  done.  But  when  the  mob  saw  the  judges  had 
risen,  they  positively  refused  to  let  them  through  the  door-way, 
called  for  arms  stored  at  a  neighboring  house,  posted  sentinels, 
and  kept  judges,  sheriff,  and  lawyers  close  prisoners  for  two 
hours.  Finding  the  spirit  of  the  court  was  not  to  be  broken 
by  a  show  of  force,  the  mob,  toward  supper-time,  began  to  fall 
away,  and  in  a  little  while  none  were  left.  The  judges  has 
tened  to  their  lodgings,  where  the  committee  of  the  rioters  a 
second  time  waited  on  them.  The  sheriff  meanwhile  sent 
off  to  alarm  the  county  and  raise  the  militia.  Though  it 
was  between  eight  and  nine  in  the  evening  before  his  orders 
went  out  of  Rutland,  so  speedily  were  they  executed  that 
before  nine  the  next  morning  troops  under  Colonel  Pearle 
came  streaming  into  town  from  Pawlet.  Soon  after,  Col 
onel  Clark  and  Lieutenant  -  Colonel  Spafford  came  in  with 
more,  and  the  Regulators,  as  they  called  themselves,  fell  back 
from  the  court-house  and  broke  up  into  small  knots.*  The 
business  of  the  court  was  no  longer  hindered,  and  just  at 
dusk  the  sheriff  ventured  to  arrest  seven  of  the  leaders  and 
lock  them  up  in  the  jail.  A  party  of  forty,  who,  under  an 
excitable  militia-captain  named  Cooley,  had  taken  refuge  in  a 
house  a  mile  out  of  town,  were  next  surrounded  by  a  detach 
ment  of  horse  and  foot ;  but  not  till  several  shots  had  been 
exchanged,  and  some  blood  shed,  did  they  give  themselves  up 
and  come  back  to  Rutland  prisoners. 

To  all  appearances  the  rebellion  was  crushed ;  but  as  the 
troops  had  brought  three  days'  rations  with  them,  it  was  be 
lieved  to  be  on  the  side  of  prudence  to  keep  them  till  the 
last  moment.  Late  on  Saturday  afternoon,  however,  the  mib'tia 

*  A  Letter  to  the  Printers.     Vermont  Gazette,  November  27,  1786. 


1786.  THE   MALCONTENTS   DISPERSED.  355 

were  drawn  up,  reviewed  by  Colonel  Clark,  thanked,  and  dis 
charged.  But  it  was  then  so  near  dark  that  they  spent  the  night 
in  Rutland,  and  early  on  Sunday  morning  set  out  for  home. 
They  were  hardly  out  of  sight  behind  the  hills  which  encom 
passed  the  town  when  word  was  brought  in  that  two  hundred 
of  the  Regulators  had  assembled  to  the  west  of  Otter  creek. 
Horsemen  were  instantly  dispatched  by  the  court  to  recall  the 
troops.  Clark  was  overtaken  at  Pine  Hill,  hastened  back  to  Cen 
tre  Rutland,  and  placed  a  strong  guard  at  the  bridge  over  Otter 
creek.  Pearle  took  up  his  position  at  Blanchard's  Corners. 
The  malcontents  lay  between  them.  And  now  some  earnest 
friends  of  law  and  order  spent  the  rest  of  Sunday  in  persuading 
the  Regulators  to  go  back  to  their  farms.  They  had,  they 
were  told,  been  misinformed.  Artful  and  designing  men  had 
imposed  on  them  with  absurd  stories  about  the  fraudulent  deal 
ings  of  the  court  and  the  harsh  treatment  of  its  prisoners. 
Nothing  of  the  kind  had  taken  place.  But  if  they  persisted 
in  the  course  they  were  pursuing,  they  surely  would  bring  up 
in  bloodshed  and  in  ruin.  Great  numbers  were  convinced  of 
their  error,  abandoned  the  enterprise,  and  took  service  under 
Government.  When  Monday  came,  all  was  again  peaceful, 
and  the  militia  once  more  turned  homeward.* 


*  For  accounts  of  the  troubles  at  Rutland,  see  Caverly's  History  of  Pittsford, 
pp.  252-258 ;  Ilollister's  History  of  Pawlet ;  Hall's  Eastern  Vermont ;  and  the 
Vermont  Gazettes  of  November  27  and  December  11,  1786. 


856    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.    CHAP. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION. 

BAD  as  was  the  condition  of  the  finances  of  the  States,  that 
of  the  national  Government  was  much  worse.  The  very  men 
who  announced  themselves  ready  to  go  to  any  extreme  in  hopes 
of  finding  a  means  of  paying  their  own  debts,  could  not  be 
induced  to  take  the  first  step  toward  providing  the  means  of 
paying  the  national  debt.  The  state  of  the  Treasury  had 
become  desperate  and  alarming.  At  the  opening  of  the  year 
1Y86  the  entire  debt  of  the  country  summed  up  to  forty-two 
million  three  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars.  A  little  over 
thirty-four  millions  was  due  at  home.  Of  the  remaining  eight 
millions,  a  part  was  due  in  France,  some  in  Holland,  and  some 
in  Spain.*  To  a  generation  which  has  expended  three  thou 
sand  millions  of  dollars  on  a  civil  war,  which  is  accustomed 
to  see  Congress  each  year  appropriate  several  hundreds  of  mill 
ions  to  the  service  of  the  state,  and  pays  down  annually  for 
postage-stamps  and  postal-cards  a  sum  but  little  less  than  the 
whole  debt  of  the  United  States  in  1786,f  the  burden  under 
which  our  ancestors  bowed  down  seems  light.  But  it  was  then 
thought  a  heavy  one.  So  great  was  the  poverty  of  the  people 
that  the  tax-gatherers  found  it  impossible  to  wring  from  them 
the  two  and  a  half  millions  necessary  to  pay  the  annual  interest. 
Every  year  the  requisitions  were  sent  out,  and  every  year  the 
interest  fell  more  and  more  in  arrear.  During  the  fifty  months 
which  elapsed  from  the  first  day  of  November,  1781,  to  the 


*  The  precise  sum  of  money  due  to  creditors  at  home  was  $34,115,290.  The 
foreign  debt  was  $7,885,035.  The  interest  amounted  to  $2,415,956. 

•f  The  amount  collected  by  the  post-offices  of  the  country  during  the  fiscal 
year  1882  was  $41,368,062. 


1786.       THE  IMPOST  AND   SUPPLEMENTARY  FUNDS.         357 

first  day  of  January,  1786,  requisitions  to  the  amount  of  ten 
millions  of  dollars  had  been  made  on  the  States,  and  less  than 
two  and  a  half  millions  had  come  into  the  Treasury.  For  the 
last  fourteen  months  of  this  time  the  receipts  were  much  less 
than  four  hundred  thousand  a  year,  while  for  the  same  time 
the  interest  on  the  foreign  debt  alone  was  much  more  than  five 
hundred  thousand.  To  make  matters  still  worse,  the  first  instal 
ment  of  the  principal  became  due  in  1787,  and  thenceforth 
one  million  fell  in  each  year  till  all  was  paid. 

With  this  the  multitude  were  as  familiar  as  with  any  fact 
in  daily  life ;  as  with  the  price  of  wheat  or  the  cost  of  living. 
For  three  years  the  impost  system  had  been  before  them  for 
consideration.  The  imperative  need  of  an  assured  revenue 
had  been  made  known  to  them  repeatedly.  Yet  the  Treasury 
was  as  empty  as  ever.  Some  few  States,  after  much  delibera 
tion,  had  yielded  a  reluctant  consent.  But  even  these  had  so 
bound  their  concessions  with  absurd  restrictions  that  they  might 
much  better  have  withheld  them.  New  York  and  Rhode  Isl 
and,  Maryland  and  Georgia,  would  not  listen  to  so  dangerous  a 
dring  as  a  revenue  system  of  any  kind.  It  was  not  the  inten 
tion  of  these  States  to  see  the  fine  ports  of  New  York  and 
Providence,  Baltimore  and  Savannah,  crowded  with  gangers 
and  tide-waiters  busy  collecting  great  sums  of  money,  not  a 
penny  of  which  reached  the  State  Treasuries.  Delaware  had 
no  objection  to  the  impost  or  the  supplementary  fund;  she 
thought  indeed  that  they  were  good  things,  but  nothing  could 
induce  her  to  consent  to  their  establishment  unless  every  other 
State  did  the  same.  North  Carolina  had  assented  to  everything 
Congress  asked.  Massachusetts  had  granted  the  general  impost, 
but  withheld  the  supplementary  fund,  and  with  Massachusetts 
were  joined  Ne\v  Hampshire  and  Connecticut,  New  Jersey, 
Virginia,  and  South  Carolina.  Pennsylvania  sent  word  that 
she  too  granted  the  impost  and  the  permanent  fund,  but  would 
collect  them  in  such  way  as  the  Legislature  from  time  to  time 
saw  fit  to  prescribe. 

The  seriousness  of  this  condition  of  affairs  was  keenly  felt 
in  Congress.  It  was  on  the  authority  of  that  body  that  the 
loans  and  the  debts  had  been  contracted,  and  the. House  had,  in 
the  name  of  the  whole  country,  pledged  its  faith  for  their  pay- 


358    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

ment.  The  year,  therefore,  was  scarcely  come  in  when  a  grand 
committee  was  appointed  to  examine  into  the  state  of  the 
finances,  and  report  the  best  way  of  discharging  the  debt. 
Early  in  February  the  report  was  read  to  the  House.* 

The  document  began  with  a  recital  of  the  sums  due,  and 
then  went  on  to  the  consideration  of  the  means  of  payment. 
The  Articles  of  Confederation,  it  was  said,  provided  three  ways : 
requisitions,  loans,  bills  of  credit.  As  to  the  success  of  requi 
sitions  in  the  future,  it  was  easy  to  form  a  judgment  from  the 
success  of  requisitions  in  the  past.  In  October,  1781,  eight 
millions ;  in  October,  1782,  two  millions ;  in  April,  1784,  two 
millions  six  hundred  and  seventy  thousand;  in  September, 
1785,  three  millions  of  dollars  had  been  called  for.  But  the 
sums  sent  in  under  these  requisitions  were  not  sufficient  to  pay 
the  interest  on  the  foreign  loans.  Happily  a  part  of  one  of  the 
loans  had  not  been  expended,  and  had  been  used  to  discharge 
a  part  of  the  debt ;  but  all  the  loans  were  now  exhausted. 

As  to  contracting  new  loans,  that  was  something  not  to  be 
thought  of.  Unless  the  Treasury  could  promptly  meet  the  in 
terest  due  on  the  money  already  borrowed,  it  was  foolish  to 
seek  to  be  trusted  for  more.  Besides,  the  country  being  at 
peace,  enjoying  the  blessings  of  a  free  and  extensive  commerce, 
and  having  but  the  expenses  of  Government  to  attend  to, 
Americans  should  blush  to  admit  that  they  could  not  discharge 
their  engagements  without  the  help  of  foreign  nations. 

The  emission  of  bills  of  credit  was  likewise  objectionable. 
They  would  not  serve  to  pay  off  even  the  domestic  debt,  for, 
bearing  no  interest,  they  would  place  the  credit  in  a  worse  con 
dition  than  before.  The  States,  it  was  indeed  true,  were  in 
possession  of  another  fund  arising  from  the  sale  of  vacant  and 
unimproved  lands,  but  as  public  securities  were  taken  in  pay 
ment  for  these  lands,  little  specie  would  come  into  the  Treasury 
from  that  source.  They  were  to  be  looked  on  rather  as  a 
means  of  extinguishing  the  domestic  debt ;  and  as  not  an  acre 
of  them  could  be  sold  till  they  were  surveyed,  and  as  some  time 
must  elapse  before  the  geographer  could  survey  them,  no  im 
mediate  aid  was  to  be  expected.  All  this  the  committee  said 
they  had  considered,  and  could,  after  mature  deliberation,  see 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  February  15,  1786. 


1786.  KTJFTJS  KING.  359 

no  way  out  of  the  trouble  but  to  recommend  the  impost.  This 
they  did.  And  as  all  the  States,  save  ~New  York  and  Georgia, 
had  in  some  wise  assented,  it  was  advised  that  these  States  be 
most  earnestly  urged  to  take  into  immediate  consideration  the 
resolution  of  the  eighteenth  of  April,  1783.  When  the  report 
had  been  read,  Houston,  of  Georgia,  rose  and  moved  to  post 
pone  ;  but  the  motion  was  lost  by  a  vote  of  nineteen  to  two. 
The  matter  was  then  referred  to  a  new  committee  of  five. 

On  the  fifteenth  of  the  month  the  House  was  informed  that 
the  committee  was  prepared  to  submit  the  result  of  its  delibera 
tions.  Rufus  King  read  the  paper,  for  he  had,  with  the  hearty 
consent  of  the  other  four,  been  chosen  as  the  best  qualified 
to  set  forth  their  views.  Though  in  years  the  youngest  man 
who  at  that  time  sat  in  the  House,  he  was  in  experience  among 
the  oldest.  He  had  just  turned  thirty,  but  had  come  early 
into  public  life,  and  was  already  known  as  a  jurist,  a  states 
man,  and  an  orator.  His  first  public  service  happened  the 
year  after  quitting  Harvard.  The  British  were  at  that  time 
overrunning  Rhode  Island,  men  were  greatly  wanted,  and 
King  went  out  as  a  volunteer  under  Sullivan.  This  duty  dis 
charged,  he  settled  at  ]S"ewburyport  and  began  the  practice  of 
law.  There  the  remarkable  talents  which  in  after  years  raised 
him  to  the  highest  dignities  and  gained  for  him  the  conduct  of 
great  affairs,  began  to  show  themselves,  and  it  was  not  long  be 
fore  he  went  up  to  Boston  and  took  his  seat  in  the  General 
Court  as  the  representative  of  his  fellow-townsmen.  In  the 
Assembly  he  distinguished  himself  as  a  man  of  business,  a 
ready  debater,  and  a  pleasing  orator.  Whenever  he  stood  up 
to  speak  he  was  always  sure  of  a  patient  hearing  from  the 
House,  and  the  House  was  always  sure  of  getting  from  him 
much  light  on  the  matter  under  debate.  One  speech  in  particu 
lar,  in  support  of  the  five-per-cent  impost,  was  greatly  admired, 
and  aided  not  a  little  to  secure  for  him  an  election  to  Congress. 
The  report  on  the  finances  which  he  now  submitted  was  a  most 
carefully  prepared  and  exhaustive  production.  He  called  the 
attention  of  the  House  to  many  things  which  depended  on  a 
sure  supply  of  money.  Without  funds,  he  said,  the  interest  on 
the  debt  could  not  be  paid  ;  the  merchants  could  not  be  pro 
tected  against  the  Barbary  powers  ;  the  frontiersmen  could  not 


360    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

be  defended  from  the  savages ;  magazines,  so  indispensable  to 
public  safety,  could  not  be  formed ;  public  servants  could  no 
longer  be  maintained  abroad ;  the  Federal  Government  could  no 
longer  be  run  at  home.  All  these  things  depended  on  the 
prompt  payment  of  the  yearly  requisitions,  and  all  these  things, 
it  seemed  not  too  much  to  say,  were  likely  to  be  involved  in  a 
common  failure  and  ruin.  The  committee  had  felt  it  to  be  no 
more  than  thei»  duty  candidly  to  look  into  the  principles  of  the 
impost  and  find  out,  if  they  could,  what  reasons  had  stood  in 
the  way  of  its  adoption.  This  they  had  done.  They  had  in 
the  most  impartial  way  examined  all  the  laws  passed  by  the 
States  on  the  matter  of  the  impost,  and  they  were  unable  to 
find  that  a  single  member  of  the  Confederation  had  stated  one 
objection  against  it.  The  result  of  this  inquiry  was  that  they 
were  clearly  and  decidedly  of  the  opinion  that  of  all  systems 
of  collecting  revenue  the  wisdom  of  Congress  could  devise,  the 
impost  was  the  freest  from  well-grounded  objections,  and  the 
most  likely  to  meet  with  the  approbation  of  the  States.  A 
further  reliance  on  the  old  way  would  be  madness.  For  eight 
years  past  the  requisitions  had  been  most  irregular  in  their 
working.  Their  collection  had  been  most  uncertain.  Their 
unproductiveness  was  evident.  To  look  to  them,  therefore,  as 
a  source  whence  to  draw  moneys  to  meet  engagements,  definite 
in  amount  and  fixed  in  time,  would  be  folly.  It  would  be  dis 
honorable  to  the  understanding  of  any  man  who  entertained 
such  confidence.  It  would  be  dangerous  to  the  safety,  honor, 
and  welfare  of  the  Union.  Seriously  impressed  with  these 
facts,  they  believed  it  to  be  the  plain  duty  of  Congress  to  repre 
sent  to  the  States  how  utterly  impossible  it  was  to  maintain  the 
faith  of  the  Federal  Government  by  requisitions  made  from 
time  to  time,  and  to  once  more  urge  a  speedy  and  full  conces 
sion  of  all  to  the  impost  system  of  April,  1783.* 

It  had  been  long  since  language  so  strong  and  decided  had 
been  listened  to  by  Congress.  The  report  met  with  a  hearty 
approval,  was  adopted,  and  a  set  of  resolutions  expressive  of 
the  sense  of  it  drawn  up  and  quickly  passed. 

The  attention  of  the  House  was  then  turned  to  the  regula 
tion  of  trade.  Another  grand  committee  was  appointed.  All 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  February  15,  1786. 


1786.  THE  KEGULATIOtf  OF  TRADE.  361 

the  acts  of  the  States  granting  Congress  power  over  trade  were 
examined,  and  another  report  listened  to  on  the  third  of  March. 
As  had  been  expected,  the  acts  were  found  to  be  most  conflict 
ing  and  incongruous.  One  State  granted  everything  that  had 
been  asked,  but  clogged  the  grant  with  the  condition  that  when 
the  twelve  others  had  done  likewise  the  regulation  of  trade  by 
Congress  should  become  an  article  of  the  Confederation.* 
Three  had  determined  the  date  when  the  act  was  to  take  ef- 
fect.f  Another  had  settled  upon  the  time  the  act  was  to  run.J 
Four  had  suspended  their  acts  till  all  had  complied.*  Three 
had  not  given  the  request  any  consideration  whatever.!  One 
prescribed  how  the  trade  of  the  State  should  be  regulated. A 
Nothing  was  to  be  done'  under  such  circumstances,  it  seemed 
to  the  committee,  but  to  send  back  the  acts  with  a  civil  request 
that  the  States  would  reconsider  and  make  them  agree  one 
with  another.  This  the  House  accordingly  did. 

The  appeal  was  well  timed.  The  regulation  of  trade  by 
Congress  was  highly  popular  with  a  very  large  and  very  influ 
ential  class  of  the  community,  and  great  activity  had  been 
manifested  in  its  behalf.  In  North  Carolina,  one  of  the  three 
that  still  withheld  consent,  a  grand  jury  returned  in  their  list 
of  grievances  the  fact  that  Congress  did  not  possess  enough 
power  to  regulate  trade.  Q  The  grand  jury  of  Wilkes  county, 
in  Georgia,  did  the  same,  complained  bitterly  that  the  State 
had  refused  to  allow  Congress  to  lay  an  impost  of  five  per  cent 
on  foreign  goods,  and  earnestly  besought  the  Legislature  to 
make  haste  to  do  so.J  Merchants  in  the  great  cities  continued 
to  fill  the  Gazettes  and  Packets  with  most  distressing  accounts 
of  the  depredations  of  Algerine  cruisers.  The  Barbary  powers, 
it  was  said,  were  plainly  at  war  with  the  States.  One  merchant 
had  heard  from  his  agent  in  the  Barbadoes  that  two  Algerine 
war-ships,  one  of  twenty-two  guns  and  one  of  fourteen  guns, 

*  North  Carolina.  f  Connecticut,  Pennsylvania,  and  Maryland. 
\  Rhode  Island  extended  the  time  to  twenty-five  years. 

*  Massachusetts,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Virginia, 
fl  Delaware,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia. 

A  New  Hampshire  granted  power  to  regulate  trade  by  restrictions  on  duties. 
0  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  January  25,  1786.     The  statement  is  copied  from  the 
Charleston  papers. 

$  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  January  25,  1786. 


302    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

and  a  xebec  of  twelve  guns,  were  cruising  about  the  islands, 
that  they  had  overhauled  an  Englishman  by  mistake,  had  ques 
tioned  him  closely,  had  declared  he  was  an  American,  and  com 
pelled  him  to  show  his  papers.*  Another  had  received  notice 
that  four  Moorish  cruisers  had  put  in  at  Madeira,  had  made 
many  inquiries  about  American  ships,  and  had  gone  off  assert 
ing  that  they  were  at  peace ;  but  their  manner  gave  the  lie  to 
their  words,  f  Indeed,  an  American  ship,  which  happened  to 
be  going  out  just  as  the  pirates  were  coming  in,  had  only  man 
aged  to  escape  them  by  showing  no  colors  and  running  close  to 
shore.  £  A  third  furnished  an  account  of  the  capture  and 
treatment  of  a  ship's  crew.* 

Of  these  facts  a  most  skilful  use  was  made.  Between  Brit 
ish  restrictions  and  Barbary  piracies  there  would,  it  was  said, 
soon  be  an  end  to  American  commerce.  If  the  ships  of  the 
States  were  not  to  be  driven  from  the  seas,  these  things  must 
stop  instantly.  And  they  never  would  stop  till  Congress  had 
fall  power  to  retaliate  upon  Great  Britain  and  make  war  upon 
the  Moors.  The  force  of  these  arguments  was  much  strength 
ened  by  news  of  an  alarming  nature  which  came  from  New 
Jersey.  The  Legislature  of  that  State  had  long  been  out  of 
humor.  It  began  by  quarrelling  with  New  York  about  the 
duties,  and  went  on  to  quarrel  with  Congress  about  the  re 
quisitions.  Late  in  .September,  1785,  a  call  had  been  made  for 
three  millions  of  dollars.!  This  according  to  the  common 
usage  had  been  apportioned  among  the  States,  and  one  hun 
dred  and  sixty-six  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixteen  dollars1 
of  it  fell  to  New  Jersey.  But  the  State,  imitating  the  conduct 
of  Rhode  Island,  stoutly  refused  to  pay  one  shilling.  One 
hundred  and  sixty-six  thousand  dollars,  it  was  said,  to  be  taken 
out  of  the  pockets  of  an  overtaxed  people,  and  for  what  ?  To 
support  the  Confederation  ?  And  why  should  New  Jersey 
contribute  funds  for  the  continuance  of  so  weak  and  unjust  a 
Government?  She  had,  in  an  hour  of  public  danger,  waived 
her  objections,  humbled  her  pride,  and  gone  into  the  Confed- 


*  Charleston  Evening  Gazette,  April  3,  1786. 

•j-  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  February  15,  1786. 

\  Ibid.,  February  1,  1786.  *  Ibid.,  May  3,  1786. 

|  Journals  of  Congress,  September  27,  1785. 


1786.  NEW  JERSEY   WITHHOLDS  HER   QUOTA.  363 

eration  on  terms  most  disastrous,  simply  because  the  necessities 
of  the  hour  were  great  and  because  she  entertained  a  firm  be 
lief  that  all  things  in  which  she  was  aggrieved  would  be  reme 
died.  Her  quotas  had  been  unjust.  She  had  been  made  to 
bear  more  than  her  share  of  the  expenses.  She  had  been  for 
years  ill  used  by  a  neighboring  State.  All  this  Congress  was 
aware  of,  and  had  refused  to  right  her.  She  had  been  very  pa 
tient  ;  but  there  was  a  point  beyond  which  patience  ceased  to 
be  worthy  of  men  and  became  the  badge  of  cowards.  She 
would  no  longer  submit  to  be  fettered  with  a  compact  so  un 
just,  so  unequal ;  she  would  assert  her  independence  and  refuse 
to  pay  one  penny  of  the  new  quota  till  every  grievance  had 
been  righted.  A  resolution  expressing  these  sentiments  was 
accordingly  brought  in,  and  passed  the  Legislature  by  a  great 
majority  on  the  twentieth  of  February.  A  few  days  later  one 
of  the  members  who  sat  for  New  Jersey  announced  the  fact  to 
Congress. 

The  blow  was  a  heavy  one.  One  hundred  and  sixty-six 
thousand  dollars  seems  in  our  time  a  trifling  sum ;  but  it  bore  a 
greater  proportion  to  the  revenue  of  the  country  in  1786  than 
twenty  millions  bore  to  the  revenue  of  the  country  in  1882.* 
The  loss  of  so  large  a  part  of  the  income  of  the  Government 
would,  in  the  best  of  times,  have  been  severely  felt ;  but  that 
in  times  of  such  distress  it  must  be  attended  by  disastrous 
consequences  was  obvious.  Even  if  every  one  of  the  others 
paid  up  her  quota  in  full,  there  would  still  remain  a  large  defi 
cit  ;  and  while  this  deficit  existed,  the  interests  of  the  whole 
country  must  suffer  and  its  good  name  be  disgraced.  Peace 
could  not  be  purchased  of  the  Barbary  powers,  and  every  mer 
chant-ship  that  entered  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  would  soon  be 
moored  to  the  docks,  or  stranded  on  the  beach  of  Tunis  01 
Tripoli.  Magazines  could  not  be  put  up,  troops  could  not  be 
employed,  and  in  a  little  while  every  promising  hamlet  of 
frontiersmen  along  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  and  the  Holston 
would  be  a  smouldering  ruin,  strewn  with  mangled  corpses. 
Part  of  the  interest  on  the  debt  would  remain  unpaid,  or  per 
haps  the  salaries  of  the  ministers  abroad  fall  in  arrear.  All  this 
was  bad  enough  to  make  the  most  stubborn  opponent  of  the 

*  The  net  revenue  of  the  Government  for  the  fiscal  year  1882  was  $403,525,250. 


364:  THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  iv. 

impost  give  way ;  but  it  was  not  the  worst.  Want  of  money 
was  a  great  calamity;  but  want  of  unity  between  the  States 
was  a  greater  calamity  still.  If  New  Jersey,  it  was  felt,  per 
sisted  in  her  determination,  the  Confederation  would  in  the 
eyes  of  every  foreign  power  stand  forth  as  the  most  impotent 
Government  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  What  king  would  make 
treaties,  would  exchange  ministers,  would  engage  in  commerce 
with  a  confederation  forced  to  beg  compliance  with  its  lawful 
acts  from  a  member  by  no  means  the  most  powerful,  whose 
territory  lay  not  two  miles  away  from  the  seat  of  Government, 
and  who  was  fully  aware  of  every  circumstance  that  ought  to 
have  made  it  ashamed  to  disobey.  Every  friend  of  America 
would  hang  down  his  head  from  very  shame;  every  enemy 
would  be  filled  with  exultant  joy.  But  nowhere  would  the 
delight  be  so  extravagant  as  in  England.  There,  ever  since  the 
peace,  the  speedy  downfall  of  the  Union  had  become  the  com 
mon  talk  of  the  coffee-house  and  the  street.  The  Gazettes  and 
the  refugees,  who  were  still  looked  upon  as  a  safe  authority  for 
American  affairs,  were  confidently  predicting  a  dissolution. 
"  Leave  them  to  themselves,"  it  was  said ;  "  they  will  soon  fall 
out,  and  gladly  seek  to  come  back,  one  by  one,  under  the  old 
Government,  and  then—  Sometimes  the  speaker  would  end 
his  sentence  with  a  gesture  or  a  look  which  left  his  meaning 
quite  plain.  Sometimes  he  would  openly  declare  that  when 
the  day  of  repentance  did  come  he  hoped  his  Majesty's  minis 
ters  would  have  spirit  enough  to  spurn  the  petitioners,  or  at 
least  treat  them  with  such  severity  as  would  make  them  repent 
heartily  of  their  late  rebellion.*  The  American  States  were 
not,  and  could  not  be,  united.  Nothing  could  induce  the 
landed  interest  to  join  with  the  commercial.  The  States  to 
the  south  of  the  Potomac  were  bitterly  set  against  the  States 
to  the  north  of  the  Potomac,  f  What  effect  the  behavior 
of  New  Jersey  would  have  in  England  was  therefore  not 
doubtful.  The  King  would  continue  to  hold  the  posts  on 
the  frontier,  and  firmly  refuse  to  enter  into  any  commercial 
relations. 

In  this  pass  Congress  determined  to  try  what  a  little  per- 

*  See  a  letter  from  Adams  to  Jay,  October  21,  1785. 

f  Adams  to  Jay,  August  6,  1785.     See,  also,  Adams  to  Jay,  July  19,  1785. 


1786.  A   COMMITTEE   SENT   TO   NEW   JERSEY.  365 


suasion  would  do.  A  committee  w&  appointed,  instructed  to 
expostulate  with  the  angry  Legislature  of  New  Jersey,  present 
to  it  the  distressed  state  of  the  country,  beg  it  not  to  increase 
the  embarrassments  of  the  hour,  and  were  dispatched  with  all 
speed  to  Trenton.  There  they  were  courteously  received  by 
the  Assembly,  and  the  tenth  of  March  set  down  as  the  day  for 
their  hearing.  Gorham  and  Grayson  were  of  the  committee. 
But  Pinckney,  who  represented  South  Carolina  in  Congress, 
made  the  address.  The  States  had,  he  said,  come  together, 
formed  a  government,  and  put  the  administration  of  its  con 
cerns  in  the  hands  of  one  controlling  power.  The  act  was  a 
purely  voluntary  one.  Each  State  was  therefore  in  honor 
and  in  duty  bound  to  bear  such  a  share  of  the  expenses  of  the 
Government  as  its  abilities  would  allow.  New  Jersey  com 
plained  that  her  portion  was  too  large.  It  was  difficult  to  see 
the  fitness  of  this  complaint.  The  first  system  made  use  of 
by  the  Confederation  for  raising  a  revenue  had  indeed  been 
found  impracticable  and  unjust.  It  had  been  changed.  A 
new  system  had  been  introduced  ;  and  to  this  New  Jersey  not 
only  assented,  but  sent  in  the  very  returns  on  which  the  assess 
ment  she  now  thought  a  grievance  had  been  made.  How, 
under  such  circumstances,  could  she  with  justice  assert  that  she 
bore  an  undue  proportion  of  the  debts  ?  How  could  she,  with 
any  show  of  consistency,  refuse  the  requisition  sent  her  ?  If 
overrated,  let  her  give  proofs  of  it  to  Congress.  If  oppressed, 
let  her  state  to  Congress  the  oppression  of  which  she  com 
plained.  She  had  indeed  a  controversy  Avith  New  York.  Had 
her  resentment  in  common  with  that  of  Connecticut  been  di 
rected  against  New  York  alone  ;  had  she  by  every  proper  means 
in  her  power,  by  levying  duties,  by  opening  a  free  port  just 
opposite  the  great  city,  sought  to  force  that  State  to  do  her 
justice,  she  would  have  received  the  countenance  and  support 
of  every  other  government  in  the  Union.  But  another  and  a 
most  unhappy  course  had  been  pursued.  She  had  refused  the 
lawful  requisition  of  Congress  till  New  York  did  her  justice. 
Such  conduct  would  defeat,  not  further,  the  ends  in  view.  It 
would  turn  the  animosity  of  the  States  from  New  York,  and 
direct  it  to  her.  For  with  what  consistency  could  force  be 
used  against  one  State  for  not  assenting  to  a  measure  on  which 


366    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.    CHAP.  iv. 

it  was  confessed  she  had  a  perfect  right  to  deliberate,  while 
another  was  suffered  with  silence  and  with  impunity  to  refuse 
the  requisitions  she  was  constitutionally  bound  to  obey  ?  It 
was  not  too  much  to  say  that  by  a  persistence  in  her  refusal 
New  Jersey  would  inevitably  dissolve  every  tie  that  bound  the 
States  together.  Others  would  soon  follow  her  example,  refuse 
their  requisitions,  and  withhold  their  supplies  from  the  common 
Treasury  till  she  in  turn  had  yielded.  Then  the  existence  of 
the  Federal  Government  would  be  endangered ;  it  would  per 
haps  cease.  He  ended  by  reminding  his  hearers  of  the  critical 
plight  of  commerce,  then  languishing  under  the  most  ruinous 
restrictions,  of  the  hostile  behavior  of  the  Indians  on  the  fron 
tier,  and  the  insulting  conduct  of  England  in  holding  the 
posts.* 

When  he  had  made  an  end  of  speaking,  the  Legislature 
rescinded  its  resolution.  It  had  not,  it  declared,  the  most  re 
mote  intention  of  doing  anything  to  embarrass  Congress,  or  to 
injure  the  general  welfare  of  the  nation.  Not  a  word,  how 
ever,  was  said  about  raising  funds  to  meet  the  requisition. 
Indeed,  five  months  slipped  by  before  any  such  provision  was 
voted.  In  the  meanwhile  the  impost  was  granted  by  New 
York. 

So  soon  as  the  last  appeal  of  Congress  for  the  tax  was 
known,  many  warm  friends  of  the  measure,  not  choosing  to  be 
discouraged  by  repeated  failures,  determined  to  make  one  more 
effort  in  its  behalf.  Among  them  was  Hamilton.  Ever  since 
Congress  began  to  exist,  Hamilton  had  with  justice  been  num 
bered  among  its  most  unflinching  friends.  No  one  had  written 
or  said  more  in  its  behalf.  No  one  had  been  more  active  in 
combating  that  extreme  jealousy  of  power  which  seems  to  be 
inseparably  bound  up  with  republican  government,  or  had 
given  a  more  hearty  support  to  even  its  most  unpopular  meas 
ures.  Five  years  before,  while  the  war  was  still  waging,  he 
had,  in  a  series  of  papers  which  he  called  the  Continentalist, 
expressed  the  heterodox  belief  that  the  many  fatal  mistakes 
which  so  seriously  endangered  the  good  cause  were  to  be 
ascribed  to  nothing  but  the  weakness  of  Congress.  At  a  later 
period,  when  Tory  scribblers  and  pot-house  politicians  were  re- 

*  New  York  Packet,  March  23,  1786. 


1786.    ACTION  OF  THE  IMPOST  PARTY  AT  NEW  YORK.    367 

viling  that  body  as  impotent  and  useless,  lie  had,  in  his  Vindi 
cation,  again  blamed  the  people  for  withholding  the  authority 
which  could  alone  make  it  respectable,  and  had,  in  the  famous 
letters  of  Phocion,  laid  down  unanswerable  reasons  why  the 
States  ought  cheerfully  to  comply  with  every  recommenda 
tion  Congress  made.  He  was  now  for  the  impost,  and  was 
in  precisely  that  place  where  his  vote  and  his  voice  could  be 
of  most  use.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature  of  New 
York.  With  the  temper  of  the  Assembly  he  was  thoroughly 
familiar,  and  it  seemed  to  him,  as  to  many  of  his  friends,  that 
the  chances  of  the  impost  passing  the  House  were  small.  It 
was  determined,  however,  to  make  the  attempt.  A  new  peti 
tion  was  decided  upon.  Hamilton  drew  it  up,  and  notices 
were  sent  out  that  copies  could  be  signed  at  Bradford's  Coffee- 
House,  at  Yande water's  in  the  Fields,  at  Abraham  Marlin's,  or 
at  the  Bear  Market  on  the  North  river.*  Great  numbers  made 
haste  to  read  it,  and  of  those  who  read  almost  all  affixed  their 
names. 

The  instrument  was  a  clear,  forcible,  and  concise  state 
ment  of  the  reasons  why  the  impost  should  be  passed,  and 
closed  with  an  observation  as  pointed  as  it  was  just.  Whenever 
any  one  held  forth  on  the  merits  of  the  system,  it  had  been 
usual  to  silence  him  with  the  observation  that  the  good  points 
about  it  were  undoubtedly  many ;  but  that  it  would  be  ruinous 
to  all  liberty  to  put  into  the  hands  of  Congress  so  much  money, 
patronage,  and  power.  The  petitioners  now  plainly  told  the 
Legislature  that  they  felt  their  interest  and  liberties  would  be 
quite  as  safe  in  the  hands  of  men  sent  to  represent  them  in 
Congress  for  one  year  as  in  the  hands  of  men  sent  to  represent 
them  in  the  Legislature  for  four  years ;  that  all  government 
implied  trust,  and  that  every  government  must  be  trusted  just 
so  far  as  was  necessary  to  enable  it  to  perform  the  high  func 
tions  for  which  it  had  been  created.f 

While  the  petition  was  being  signed,  both  parties  kept  up  a 
bitter  conflict  through  the  press.  One  writer,  who  signed  him 
self  Gustavus,  addressed  the  Senate.  £  The  present  was,  he 

*  New  York  Packet,  March  27,  1786.     f  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  ii,  pp.  333,  334. 
\  The  paper  came  out  in  the  New  York  Packet,  April  6,  1786,  and  was  ad 
dressed  to  the  Senate  of  the  State  of  New  York. 


368     THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.    CHAP.  iv. 


said,  the  last  session  of  the  Assembly  before  the  first  interest, 
for  which  the  impost  was  to  provide  funds,  fell  due.  It  surely 
was  not  necessary  to  remind  the  members  that,  should  the  first 
interest  on  the  Dutch  loan  not  be  satisfied,  the  principal  could 
be  demanded.  Congress  had  a  claim  to  the  gratitude  of  every 
American  for  having  made  the  loans.  It  had  pledged  itself  and 
the  country  for  the  payment  of  the  sums  lent,  and  had  a  right 
to  do  so.  Should  Congress  be  authorized  to  make  national  con 
tracts  and  not  fulfil  them  ?  As  to  the  dangers  of  granting  a 
revenue  to  Congress,  until  the  political  dotards  and  dreamers 
who  first  suggested  them  could  advance  some  solid  reasons,  it 
was  not  worth  while  to  confute  them.  The  members  of  the 
Senate  were  too  well  informed  to  be  alarmed  by  the  awful 
figures  of  the  sword  and  purse,  which,  like  halberds  in  a  militia 
train-band,  were  interspersed  and  brandished  throughout  the 
dull  harangues  of  the  demagogues.  The  argument  which  some 
used  of  the  advantage  New  York  would  derive  from  a  separate 
impost  was  a  base  one,  and  would  soon  be  disproved.  Her 
provoked  neighbors,  spurning  her  selfishness  and  avarice,  would 
no  longer  pay  a  tax  to  the  citizens  of  New  York  for  which  their 
public  account  was  not  credited. 

In  the  same  number  of  the  Packet  appeared  some  argu 
ments  by  a  member  of  the  non-impost  party.  The  paper  was 
by  an  unknown  hand,  was  addressed  to  the  Congress  of  the 
Thirteen  States,  and  was  written  in  that  coarse  and  bombastic 
style  common  to  the  political  writings  of  the  age.*  Do  you 
expect,  said  the  writer,  by  threats  of  coercion,  to  terrify  us  into 
the  embrace  of  despotism  ?  Shall  the  independent  State  of 
New  York  be  made  a  dupe  to  your  body  ?  Central  in  situa 
tion,  extensive  in  domain,  strong  in  numbers,  important  in 
commerce,  fruitful  in  agriculture,  invincible  in  war,  and  inex 
haustible  in  resources,  we  dare  all  the  terrors  of  your  resent 
ment.  Behold  the  resistless  flood  of  the  Mohawk,  view  the 
rolling  waves  of  the  Hudson,  and  see  a  picture  of  our  impor 
tance  and  our  strength.  He  then  went  on  to  ask  why,  if  they 
must  have  an  impost,  one  granted  till  the  next  session  of  the 
Legislature  would  not  answer  their  purpose.  A  committee  of 
revision,  said  he  with  gross  insolence,  could  then  be  appointed, 

*  New  York  Packet,  April  6,  1786. 


1786.  CHARACTER   OF  GEORGE   CLINTON.  369 

your  accounts  looked  into,  and,  if  no  suspicion  of  collusion 
existed,  an  extension  easily  obtained. 

To  this  tirade  Congress  gave  no  heed,  for  the  members  had 
long  become  accustomed  to  insult  and  abuse,  and  they  well 
knew  that  the  reasons  advanced  for  refusing  an  impost  were 
precisely  the  ones  which  had  from  first  to  last  guided  the 
political  conduct  of  Clinton.  It  is  impossible  to  mention  the 
name  of  George  Clinton  without  calling  up  the  recollection 
of  a  man  to  whose  memory  a  grateful  posterity  has  been 
more  than  kind.  To  believe  that  he  was  a  really  great  man, 
to  extol  him  in  terms  too  exalted  to  be  applied  to  the  found 
ers  of  the  republic,  is  in  our  day  a  common  thing.  His  repu 
tation,  indeed,  is  immense.  But  when  an  even-handed  justice 
is  meted  out,  it  must  be  owned  that  he  has  been  much  over 
rated.  That  he  was  a  man  of  force  and  no  mean  ability  is  quite 
true ;  but  that  he  was  in  any  sense  a  statesman  is  not  true. 
He  was,  in  fact,  the  most  shrewd,  the  most  crafty,  the  most 
pushing  and  successful  politician  of  his  time.  Quick-sighted 
rather  than  foresighted,  he  raised  himself,  despite  his  humble 
birth  and  scanty  means,  partly  by  time-serving,  partly  by  the 
skilful  use  he  made  of  every  chance  opportunity,  to  the  high  post 
of  Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York  and  held  it  for  many 
years.  From  the  day  on  which  he  thus  became  the  most  pow 
erful  man  in  the  State  he  toiled  persistently  to  make  the  State 
the  most  powerful  member  of  the  Union.  He  would  see  her 
waste  lands  along  the  Mohawk  turned  into  gardens.  He  would 
see  her  noble  harbor  filled  with  ships.  He  would  have  her 
Treasury  run  over  with  gold.  But  his  cramped  and  narrow 
mind  knew  no  way  by  which  his  State  could  attain  to  so  much 
prosperity  save  that  by  which  he  himself  had  climbed  to  great 
ness,  by  selfishness,  by  cold-heartedness,  by  pulling  down  the  ri 
vals  that  struggled  at  her  side.  The  course,  therefore,  pursued 
by  New  York,  from  the  November  morning  when  the  enemy 
left  her  soil  to  the  day  when  she  finally  adopted  the  Constitu 
tion,  forms  the  most  shameful  portion  of  her  annals.  There  is 
nothing  like  it  save  in  the  history  of  Rhode  Island.  And  this 
course,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  was  prescribed  by  Clinton. 
While  others  were  striving  to  give  strength  and  dignity  to  the 
Union,  he  was  steadily  laboring  to  break  it  down.  To  weaken 

VOL.   i. — 25 


370    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

the  power  and  thwart  the  wishes  of  Congress  had  with  him 
long  been  a  guiding  principle,  and  he  now  found  in  the  impost 
a  means  of  doing  both. 

After  innumerable  petitions  had  been  presented,  and  many 
sharp  debates  and  addresses  listened  to,  the  Legislature  passed 
the  act.  But  they  inserted  in  the  bill  a  clause  which,  as  they 
well  knew,  made  the  grant  of  the  impost  useless.  They  would 
not,  it  was  understood,  part  with  one  jot  of  the  power  of  the 
State.  They  would  have  no  men  swarming  upon  their  docks, 
prying  into  every  ship  that  came  from  abroad,  setting  valua 
tions  and  collecting  revenue,  unless  they  were  creatures  of  their 
own  making.  It  was  therefore  made  a  condition  of  levying  the 
impost  that  the  collectors  of  the  duty  should  be  appointed  by 
the  State  of  New  York.  When  Congress  took  up  the  matter, 
toward  the  middle  of  August,  their  committee  announced  this 
fact.*  Instantly  a  resolution  was  passed  recommending  New 
York  to  amend  the  act,  and,  as  the  Legislature  had  then  broken 
up,  a  letter  was  ordered  to  be  written  to  Governor  Clinton  urg 
ing  him  to  call  a  special  session. f  The  letter  was  sent,  and  on 
the  sixteenth  of  the  month  the  answer  was  read  to  the  House. 
He  had,  he  protested,  the  highest  deference  and  respect  for 
Congress.  He  wished  it  was  always  in  his  power  to  comply 
with  the  recommendations  of  Congress.  But,  unhappily,  he  had 
no  power  to  convene  the  Legislature  except  for  extraordinary 
purposes.  The  present  business  had  often  been  before  the 
Assembly  during  the  late  session.  He  could  not,  therefore, 
consider  it  as  anything  extraordinary.  J  In  a  word,  he  plainly 
told  Congress  that  he  did  not  think  it  of  much  importance 
whether  the  impost  succeeded  or  failed,  whether  the  national 
Treasury  was  full  or  empty,  whether  the  interest  on  the  loans 
was  paid  or  unpaid  ;  and  he  undoubtedly  told  the  truth.  His 
reply  was  deemed  evasive,  and  before  the  month  had  gone  out 
it  was  again  moved  that  he  be  urged  to  assemble  the  Legisla 
ture.*  There  the  matter  rested  for  the  present.  Some  minor 

*  The  act  was  passed  by  New  York  on  May  4,  1786.     Congress  was  notified  on 
May  12th,  and  referred  it  to  a  committee,  which  reported  July  27,  1786. 

f  Journals  of  Congress,  August  11,  1786.  \  Ibid.,  August  16,  1786. 

*  See  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Governor's  Letter,  August  22  and 
23,  1786. 


1T86.   SOUTHERN  BOUNDARY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.   371 

business  then  took  up  the  attention  of  the  House  ;  but  a  week 
later,  after  a  warm  debate,  a  vote  was  reached  which  threw  the 
country  into  a  ferment,  and  for  a  time  still  further  impaired 
what  little  harmony  existed  between  the  States. 
I  On  the  twenty-ninth  of  May  the  Secretary  of  State  for 
Foreign  Affairs  wrote  to  the  President  of  Congress.  He  had, 
he  said,  in  the  course  of  his  dealings  with  Gardoqui,  met  with 
great  difficulties.  The  negotiation  indeed  was  at  a  stand-still 
till  these  hindrances  were  removed  ;  but,  in  his  opinion,  it  was 
expedient  that  they  should  be  so  managed  that  their  very  exist 
ence  should  for  the  present  remain  a  secret.  He  begged,  there 
fore,  that  a  committee  might  be  appointed  to  instruct  him.* 
His  request  was  granted.  King,  Pettit  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
Monroe  were  named.  The  secret  soon  came  out,  and  in  a  few 
months  the  right  to  navigate  the  Mississippi  was  hotly  debated 
by  the  whole  country. 

The  difficulties  of  which  Jay  hinted  arose  from  a  secret 
article  of  the  English  treaty.  The  second  article  of  that  in 
strument  described  the  southern  boundary  of  the  country  given 
up  by  England  as  the  thirty-first  parallel  of  latitude  from 
the  Mississippi  to  the  Appalachicola,  down  the  middle  of  the 
Appalachicola  to  the  Flint,  from  the  Flint  to  the  head  of  St. 
Mary's  river,  and  down  that  river  to  the  sea.  These  were  the 
southern  limits  of  British  possessions  in  America  ;  for  that  splen 
did  region  which  lay  yet  nearer  to  the  Gulf,  and  passed  under 
the  name  of  the  Floridas,  was  Spanish  ground.  The  mildness 
of  the  climate,  the  richness  of  the  soil,  the  luxuriance  of  its 
vegetation,  were  well  known.  Travellers  pronounced  it  to  be 
one  of  the  most  highly  favored  regions  on  the  globe.  There, 
they  said,  the  rigor  of  the  northern  winter  and  the  intense  heat 
of  the  tropical  summer  were  alike  unknown.  There  men  grew 
old  without  ever  having  seen  snow,  or  ever  having  felt  the 
heat  of  a  day  when  the  thermometer  rose  to  one  hundred  and 
ten.  The  fertility  of  the  soil  was  described  as  simply  inex 
haustible.  The  oranges,  the  figs,  the  bananas,  the  pomegran 
ates  that  grew  in  the  gardens  or  sprang  up  in  the  woods,  were 
thought  to  be  as  fine  as  any  that  came  from  the  Indies.  On 
this  region  England  had  long  looked  with  wistful  eyes.  In- 

*  Secret  Journals  of  Congress,  May  31,  1786, 


372    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

deed,  when  the  treaty  was  framed  it  seemed  not  unlikely  that 
as  soon  as  peace  was  made  with  Spain,  England  would  come 
into  possession  of  at  least  a  part  of  it.  A  secret  article  was 
therefore  agreed  on  which  stipulated  that,  should  Great  Brit 
ain  gain  West  Florida,  the  southern  boundary  of  the  United 
States  should  be  a  line  running  due  east  from  that  point  where 
the  river  Yassous  mingles  its  waters  with  the  Mississippi  to  the 
Appalachicola.*  The  eighth  article  stipulated  that  the  Missis 
sippi  should  always  be  open  to  Englishmen  and  Americans  alike. 
But  before  the  treaty  was  signed  the  secret  article  was  well 
known  at  Madrid.  The  indignation  of  the  King  was  great. 
In  truth,  it  seems  strange  that  men  should  have  supposed  for  a 
moment  that  the  stipulations  could  long  be  kept  a  secret,  and 
that,  when' they  were  known,  Spain  would  look  on  with  com 
placency  while  land  still  her  own  was  parcelled  out  between  her 
neighbors.  Spain  had  indeed  become  the  most  impotent  and 
torpid  of  nations.  But,  torpid  as  she  was,  there  still  remained 
one  point  on  which  she  was  exquisitely  sensitive.  Who 
ever  touched  her  there,  touched  her  to  the  quick.  Her 
Treasury  might  be  empty,  her  finances  might  be  in  frightful 
disorder,  her  army  a  rabble,  her  ships  lie  rotting  at  the  docks. 
A  horde  of  pirates  might  exact  from  her  a  yearly  tribute,  com 
petition  might  drive  her  merchants  from  the  sea,  and  she  might 
in  European  politics  exert  far  less  influence  than  the  single  city 
of  Amsterdam,  or  the  little  State  of  Denmark.  All  this  could 
be  borne.  But  the  slightest  encroachment  on  her  American 
domains  had  more  than  once  proved  sufficient  to  rouse  her 
from  her  lethargy  and  to  strengthen  her  feeble  nerves.  It  was 
so  on  this  occasion.  The  news  of  the  ratification  was  scarce 
six  months  old  when  a  letter  from  his  Catholic  Majesty  to 
Congress  was  on  the  sea.  Congress  was  informed  that  until 
such  time  as  Spain  should  admit  that  the  boundary  between  the 
United  States,  Louisiana,  and  the  Floridas  had  been  truly  de 
scribed  in  the  English  treaty,  she  would  assert  her  claim  to  the 
exclusive  control  of  the  Mississippi.  Nor  would  she  under  any 
circumstances  suffer  boats  from  the  States  to  sail  up  or  down 
its  waters  while  under  her  control,  f 


*  Secret  Journals  of  Congress,  iii,  338. 

f  June  25,  1784.     Communicated  to  Congress  November  19,  1784. 


1786.  A  PLAN  TO   CLOSE  THE  MISSISSIPPI.  373 

The  letter  occasioned  much  uneasiness  and  alarm.  Some 
hot-headed  men,  and  there  were  many  such  in  the  settlements 
along  the  Ohio  and  the  Holston,  were  for  hurling  foul  scorn 
at  Spain,  sending  pirogues  down  the  river,  and,  if  the  worst 
came  to  the  worst,  taking  possession  of  Louisiana  by  force 
of  arms.  Others,  who  lived  in  the  great  sea  towns,  who  knew 
nothing  of  the  country  beyond  the  Alleghanies  but  that  it 
abounded  in  savage  beasts  and  savage  men,  and  who  cared 
much  for  their  own  prosperity,  took  a  very  different  view. 
The  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  might,  they  said,  become 
very  important  to  the  country  in  course  of  time.  But  that 
time  was  not  the  present.  Before  that  day  would  come,  many 
thousands  of  settlers  must  go  over  the  mountains,  many  thou 
sands  of  acres  of  forest-land  be  cleared,  many  towns  must 
spring  up  on  the  river,  many  battles  with  the  Cherokees  be 
fought,  and  the  whole  valley  turned  from  a  wilderness  to  a 
garden.  All  this  was  very  remote.  So  remote  that  it  was  not 
worth  while  to  give  up  the  good-will  of  Spain  to  secure  it. 
There  would  be  time  enough  in  the  future  for  that.  The 
friendly  offices  of  Spain  were  at  present  much  more  needed 
than  the  navigation  of  a  river  a  thousand  miles  away.  Was 
the  need  of  a  commercial  treaty  immediate  and  pressing  ? 
Spain  was  willing  to  enter  into  such  a  treaty.  "Was  gold  and 
silver  demanded '?  There  was  scarce  a  product  of  the  States, 
lumber,  tar,  pitch,  wheat,  indigo,  whale-oil,  that  could  not  be 
rapidly  exchanged  for  specie  in  the  ports  of  Spain.  Were 
foreign  markets  desirable  ?  Here  again  the  friendship  of  Spain 
would  be  most  useful.  France  would  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  the 
clamor  of  the  merchants  of  Bordeaux  and  L' Orient  the  mo 
ment  Spain  began  to  plead  in  our  behalf.  Portugal  would 
open  her  ports  in  response  to  the  friendly  intercession  of  her 
neighbor.  Backed  by  Spain,  American  ships  and  merchants 
would  be  graciously  received  in  the  Canaries,  in  the  Levant ; 
nay,  every  power  along  the  whole  shore  of  the  Mediterranean 
would  hasten  to  make  treaties  and  exchange  consuls.  Even  the 
Barbary  powers,  whose  ships  lay  in  wait  for  the  first  American 
packet  hardy  enough  to  enter  the  strait,  would  listen  to  terms 
,of  amity  and  peace.  Was  it  worth  while  to  give  up  all  this, 
plunge  into  a  war,  and  expend  great  sums  of  money  to  secure 


374:    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.    CHAP.  iv. 

the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi?  Was  any  man  so  weak- 
minded  as  to  suppose  that  the  richest  cargoes  that  would  go 
down  the  river  would  yield  any  returns  comparable  to  the  re 
turns  that  must  come  from  the  cargoes  that  would  go  over  to 
and  come  back  from  Spain  ? 

Between  these  two  extreme  parties  was  a  third,  less  hot 
headed  than  the  first,  more  far-sighted  than  the  second.  They 
were  not,  they  said,  prepared  to  rush  into  a  war.  Yet  they 
were  not  prepared  to  give  up  their  claims  to  the  Mississippi. 
The  present  advantages  of  a  trade  with  Spain  were  undoubt 
edly  many  and  great.  Yet,  whoever  had  beheld  that  fine 
western  country,  whoever  had  seen  the  majestic  rivers  rolling 
through  broad  valleys  to  the  sea,  the  great  prairies,  level  as  the 
floor,  vieing  in  fertility  with  the  most  favored  spots  on  earth, 
and  capable  of  feeding  millions  of  cattle  or  growing  hundreds 
of  millions  of  bushels  of  grain,  would  be  slow  to  throw  away 
so  splendid  an  opportunity  for  the  petty  gains  of  trade. 
There,  too,  was  a  population,  bold,  hardy,  full  of  energy  and 
grit ;  such  an  one  as  any  nation  might  be  proud  to  own. 
Adopt  the  policy  of  exclusion,  and  in  a  few  years  the  Atlantic 
States  would  be  to  the  people  of  the  Kentucky  district  no 
more  than  England  or  Spain.  They  would  throw  off  their 
allegiance.  They  would  raise  a  government  of  their  own. 
They  would  perhaps,  to  secure  the  great  blessing  nature  had 
provided  for  them,  put  themselves  under  the  protection  of 
Spain.  Then,  with  a  chain  of  British  posts  along  the  north 
west,  and  a  prosperous  Spanish  colony  along  the  southwest,  the 
States  would  find  all  too  late  how  dearly  they  had  paid  for  the 
privilege  of  sending  fish  to  the  Canaries  and  pitch  to  Madrid. 
This  calamity  might,  it  was  quite  likely,  be  prevented  by  nego 
tiation.  It  might  be  possible,  by  a  little  firmness  and  a  little 
diplomacy,  to  hold  on  to  the  one  without  giving  up  the  other ; 
to  make  an  amicable  treaty  with  Spain,  yet  obtain  the  free  use 
of  the  Mississippi. 

Such  was,  in  the  main,  the  opinion  of  Congress.  The 
House  indeed,  after  some  bickering  as  to  the  propriety  of  dis 
patching  so  important  an  officer  as  the  Secretary  of  State  for 
Foreign  Affairs,  determined  to  send  Jay  to  Spain.  But  long 
before  he  was  ready  to  set  out,  Don  Diego  Gardoqui  arrived. 


1786.  GARDOQUI  CONFERS  WITH  JAY.  375 

Gardoqui  came  with  the  modest  title  of  encargado  de  negocios. 
But  he  was  in  truth  Minister  from  Spain.  He  presented  his 
credentials  on  the  second  of  July,  1785,  was  received,  and  de 
clared  that  he  was  charged  to  conclude  a  treaty  of  arnity  and 
commerce.  The  affability,  the  easy  good  manners  of  the 
Spaniard,  the  interest  which  he  shrewdly  manifested  in  Ameri 
can  affairs,  but,  above  all,  the  gracious  letter  of  his  master,  did 
much  to  remove  the  fears  of  a  rupture  with  Spain.  Congress 
became  so  bold  that  in  its  first  instructions  to  Jay  he  was  com 
manded  to  be  very  firm  in  his  demands  for  the  free  use  of  the 
Mississippi.  But  the  minister  was  equally  firm  in  his  refusal. 
A  long  negotiation  followed.  Notes,  visits,  papers  were  ex 
changed.  A  whole  year  slipped  away,  and  matters  seemed 
no  nearer  to  a  close.  His  master,  Gardoqui  said,  was  ready 
and  willing  to  enter  into  a  treaty ;  he  would  concede  many 
things  to  the  merchants  of  the  States,  but  not  the  use  of  the 
Mississippi.  That  point  the  King  would  not  yield.  It  was 
simply  a  waste  of  time  to  talk  of  it.  It  had  always  been,  and 
was,  an  inflexible  maxim  of  Spanish  policy  to  shut  out  all 
mankind  from  the  American  dominions.  Jay  expostulated, 
persuaded,  argued  ;  and  at  last  thought  he  saw  an  easy  way  out 
of  the  difficulty.  He  had  but  to  get  rid  of  the  restriction  laid 
upon  him  by  the  resolution  of  the  twenty-fifth  of  August, 
1785,  and  all  would  go  on  well.  He  accordingly  wrote  to 
Congress  that  hisr  way  was  beset  with  difficulties,  and  begged 
that  a  committee  might  be  appointed  to  instruct  him  in  secret. 
That  the  difficulty  to  which  he  alluded  was  the  resolution 
of  the  previous  August,  and  ifllt  the  purpose  of  the  committee 
was  to  have  that  resolution  revoked,  was  well  known  and  openly 
asserted.  The  members  of  the  committee  had  indeed  been 
carefully  selected,  were  men  touching  whose  opinions  no  doubt 
existed,  and  were  chosen  as  the  representatives  of  the  three 
great  sections  of  the  country :  the  East,  the  middle  States,  and 
the  South.  King,  who  sat  for  Massachusetts,  had,  on  the  very 
day  the  Secretary's  letter  was  read  in  Congress,  stood  up  in  his 
place,  and  in  a  long  speech  denounced  the  insidious  conduct  of 
France,  declared  that  no  reliance  was  to  be  placed  on  her  in 
future,  and  pronounced  what  was  thought  to  be  a  high  eulo- 
gium  on  Spain.  Pettit  came  from  a  State  where  public  opin- 


376     THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

ion  on  the  proposed  treaty  was  almost  equally  divided.  But 
he  was  himself  known  to  be  a  steady  supporter  of  Spain.  Of 
the  three,  Monroe  alone  represented  the  interests  of  the  South 
and  West.  He  was  a  Virginian,  and  every  Virginian  was  deep 
ly  concerned  in  the  prosperity  of  what  he  called  the  back 
country. 

But  while  Jay  was  composing  his  letter  the  right  to  navigate 
the  Mississippi  was  being  tested.  A  Kentucky  flat-boat,  laden 
with  hardware,  was,  despite  the  claims  of  Spain,  slowly  descend 
ing  the  river.  The  goods  were  the  property  of  Thomas  Amis. 
Amis  was  a  North  Carolinian,  bold,  enterprising,  and  reckless. 
As  to  whether  the  States  were  or  were  not  entitled  by  the  law 
of  nations  to  use  the  river  he  neither  knew  nor  cared.  He  was 
sure  that  a  lucrative  trade  might  be  carried  on  with  the  Spanish 
towns  scattered  along  the  banks,  and  felt  confident  that  if  a 
well-selected  cargo  came  down  the  river  the  Spanish  authorities 
would  wink  at  its  sale.  He  made  a  purchase  accordingly  of 
some  Dutch  ovens,  pots,  skillets,  ploughs,  and  fifty  barrels  of 
flour,  carried  them  to  the  Ohio,  procured  a  boat,  and  began  his 
journey.  Everything  went  well  with  him  till  the  morning  of 
the  sixth  of  June,  when  he  came  in  sight  of  the  high  bluffs  at 
the  foot  of  which  stood  the  filthy  and  squalid  huts  of  Natchez. 

Natchez  was,  with  the  exception  of  New  Orleans,  the  most 
important  Spanish  town  on  the  river.  There  were  a  fort,  some 
soldiers,  a  church,  a  few  hundred  huts,  and  a  population 
made  up  of  Spanish,  French,  negroes,  half-breeds,  and  Indians. 
At  Natchez,  Amis  was  stopped.  His  pots,  his  ovens,  and  his 
boat  were  brought  on  shore  and  confiscated.  The  commandant 
indeed  went  through  the  form  of  giving  him  a  receipt,  and,  as 
a  mark  of  particular  favor,  suffered  him  to  return  to  the  States. 

No  boat  at  that  day  ever  undertook  to  stem  the  current  of 
the  Mississippi.  Amis  was  therefore  forced  to  go  home  by 
land.  The  journey  was  long.  The  way  lay  through  a  wilder 
ness.  He  was  in  constant  danger  of  falling  into  the  hands  of 
the  Indians.  It  was  not  till  the  summer  was  far  spent  that  he 
found  himself  once  more  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio.  Yet  he 
had,  in  the  course  of  his  journey,  found  some  compensation  for 
the  ills  he  endured.  "Wherever  he  went  he  told  the  story  of 
his  wrongs,  and  wherever  he  told  it  he  was  sure  to  find  aym- 


1786.  JOHN  JAY.  377 

pathetic  and  indignant  listeners.  In  a  little  while  his  narrative, 
greatly  exaggerated,  spread  over  the  whole  State  of  Franklin 
and  the  district  of  Kentucky.  And  everywhere  the  news  of 
the  seizure  at  Natchez  was  met  by  news  more  exasperating 
still.  Congress,  it  was  said,  had  made  a  treaty  with  Spain,  and 
had  agreed  to  close  up  the  Mississippi  for  twenty-five  years. 
The  story,  though  false,  contained  a  large  grain  of  truth.  No 
such  treaty  had  been  made ;  but  the  day  when  it  would  be 
made  seemed  near  at  hand. 

After  working  for  two  months  with  the  committee,  Jay, 
on  the  third  of  August,  laid  before  Congress  a  statement  of 
the  difficulties  he  had  so  long  kept  secret,  and  suggested  a  way 
out  of  them.  A  treaty  with  Spain  was,  he  represented,  great 
ly  to  be  desired.  But  of  making  such  a  treaty  there  was  no 
hope  whatever  while  the  claim  of  the  United  States  to  the 
waters  of  the  Mississippi  was  insisted  on.  The  Spanish  min 
ister  on  this  point  was  inflexible.  The  best  that  could  be  done 
under  the  circumstances  was  to  put  aside  the  Mississippi  ques 
tion,  consent  to  the  terms  offered,  and  make  a  treaty,  but  dis 
tinctly  state  that  the  instrument  should  be  binding  for  twenty- 
five  years  and  no  longer.  lie  then  went  on  to  urge  the  fitness 
of  this  course  with  arguments  that  might  have  become  the 
mouth  of  a  New  England  merchant,  but  which  did  small  credit 
to  the  head  and  the  heart  of  the  first  minister  of  state. 

John  Jay  was  descended  from  an  old  Huguenot  family, 
had  been  bred  to  the  law,  and  had  held  many  public  offices  of 
dignity  and  trust.  When  the  war  seemed  upon  the  eve  of 
breaking  out  he  had  been  made  a  member  of  the  Committee  of 
Correspondence.  He  was  afterward  raised  to  the  high  place 
of  Chief  Justice  of  New  York,  was  sent  to  Congress,  had  been 
made  President  of  that  body,  went  thence  to  Spain,  had  been 
one  of  the  Peace  Commissioners,'  had  put  his  name,  with 
Franklin  and  Adams,  to  the  treaty  with  England,  and  had 
come  home  to  be  made  Secretary  of  Congress  for  Foreign 
Affairs.  He  brought  to  the  office  a  good  knowledge  of  con 
tinental  politics,  was  painstaking  and  diligent.  Yet  the  policy 
which  he  followed  during  the  whole  of  his  administration  was 
one  of  procrastination.  He  was  much  more  disposed  to  put  off 
a  difficulty  than  to  grapple  with  it,  and  felt  quite  satisfied  if 


378     THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

he  could,  by  some  happy  expedient,  arrange  matters  for  the 
time  being. 

The  proposition  he  now  made  to  Congress  was  heard  by 
some  members  with  unconcealed  delight ;  by  others  with  min 
gled  feelings  of  indignation  and  alarm.  For  three  weeks  it 
was  fiercely  debated.  But  the  discussion  had  not  gone  far  be 
fore  it  became  manifest  that  in  the  House,  as  among  the  multi 
tude,  there  were  but  two  great  parties,  and  that  the  lines  sepa 
rating  them  were  precisely  those  separating  the  great  sections 
of  the  country.  On  the  one  side  were  the  New  England 
States-  clamoring  for  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty.  On  the 
other  side  were  the  southern  States  insisting,  with  equal  firm 
ness,  that  the  resolution  of  the  twenty-fifth  of  August,  1785, 
should  be  rescinded,  and  Jay  forbidden  to  treat  further  with 
the  minister  from  Spain.  Between  them,  hesitating  which 
way  to  turn,  were  the  middle  States.  New  Jersey  and  Penn 
sylvania  indeed  leaned  strongly  to  New  England.  Precisely 
what  course  would  be  taken  by  New  York  no  one  could  tell. 
But  every  one  was  aware  that  Clinton  ruled  New  York,  and 
every  one  who  knew  Clinton  knew  that  the  course  he  would 
urge  would  be  the  most  selfish  possible. 

Was  it  reasonable,  such  was  the  language  of  some  noted 
southerners,  to  demand  so  great  a  sacrifice  from  one  section  of 
the  country  for  the  benefit  of  another  ?  Massachusetts  seemed 
to  think  it  very  hard  that  the  South  Would  not  fall  in  with 
Spain ;  would  not  sell  the  affections  of  her  western  colonies ; 
throw  away  her  richest  possessions ;  distrust  an  ally  able  and 
willing  to  befriend  her ;  and  court,  by  the  most  precious  sacri 
fices,  an  alliance  with  a  power  whose  impotency  was  notorious. 
But  what  would  Massachusetts  say  to  a  proposition  to  give  up 
to  Great  Britain  her  right  of  fishery  as  the  prica  of  some  stip 
ulation  in  favor  of  tobacco  ? . 

Blind  as  the  eastern  States  seemed  to  be  to  the  fact,  it  was 
really  a  matter  of  very  serious  concern  to  them  to  gain  pos 
session  of  the  trade  with  the  West.  Without  such  a  trade  the 
ties  of  blood,  which  were  every  day  growing  weaker  and  weaker, 
would  soon  be  no  ties  at  all.  Then  there  would  be  no  bonds 
to  bind  the  East  with  the  West.  The  ease,  as  Washington 
said,  with  which  men  glide  down  stream  would  give  a  new 


1786.  INDIGNATION   OF  THE   WESTERN  MEN.  379 

bias  to  the  way  of  thinking  and  acting  of  the  western  settlers, 
and  what  went  on  across  the  mountains  would  be  to  them  of 
no  concern  whatever.  The  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  was 
not,  it  was  true,  needed  by  the  settlers  at  present.  But  the 
day  would  come  when  it  would  be  needed,  and  when  that  day 
came  no  earthly  power  could  deprive  them  of  it.  Why,  then, 
stir  up  the  restless  and  impetuous  spirits  of  Kentucky  to  acts 
of  extravagance  and  desperation  ?  Why  urge  a  matter  it  was 
clearly  to  the  interest  of  the  country  to  let  sleep  ?  * 

To  this  it  was  answered  that  nine  tenths  of  the  ills  which 
so  sorely  afflicted  the  country  grew  out  of  a  decayed  and  lan 
guishing  commerce.  A  treaty  with  Spain  would  revive  trade, 
bring  in  gold,  and  relieve  the  present  embarrassments.  And 
what  was  the  price  of  this  ?  The  shutting  up  of  a  useless 
river  for  a  few  years.  To  a  country  so  sparsely  settled  that  it 
was  near  a  week's  journey  from  one  little  hamlet  to  another, 
and  where  one  might  ride  all  day  and  never  see  the  smoke  of 
a  hut  or  hear  the  sound  of  an  axe,  what  was  now  done  with 
the  Mississippi  could  not  be  of  the  least  importance.  To  the 
East  what  was  done  with  the  Mississippi  was  of  the  utmost 
importance.  There  could  be  no  prosperity  without  commerce. 
There  could  be  no  commerce  without  a  treaty.  There  could 
be  no  treaty  without  giving  up  the  use  of  the  river. 

This  was  the  foundation  for  the  story  that  went  down  the 
Ohio  valley  as  Amis  came  up.  The  people  were  soon  aroused. 
Clark,  a  man  of  no  mean  parts,  who  passed  among  his  fellows 
under  the  title  of  General  and  had  acquired  a  widespread  no 
toriety  along  the  Ohio,  took  the  lead.  He  called  a  board  of 
field  officers  of  the  late  Wabash  expedition.  The  board  met 
at  Fort  Yincennes,  indulged  in  harangues  against  Spain,  Con 
gress,  and  Mr.  Jay,  and  at  length  decided  that  the  alarming 
state  of  the  West  required  a  strong  garrison  at  Vincennes.  A 
body  of  men  was  soon  enlisted  for  one  year,  and  Clark  put 
in  command.  But  he  had  not  been  many  weeks  in  charge  be 
fore  he  began  to  commit  acts  which  he  looked  upon  as  just  re- 

*  See  a  letter  from  Washington  to  Henry  Lee,  June  18,  1786  ;  again,  July  26 
and  October  31,  1786.  Lee  supported  the  Spanish  side  till,  at  the  fall  election, 
he  lost  his  seat  in  Congress.  Referring  to  the  causes  of  Lee's  defeat,  Madison 
writes  :  "  One  of  them  is  said  to  have  been  his  supposed  heterodoxy  touching  the 
Mississippi."  Madison  to  Jefferson,  December  4,  1786. 


380     THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

prisals,  but  which  the  State  in  whose  name  he  perpetrated 
them  regarded  as  thefts.  Yincennes  was  at  that  time  a  collec 
tion  of  squalid  huts,  where  some  enterprising  Spaniards  car 
ried  on  a  lucrative  trade  with  the  settlers.  One  of  them  lived 
in  the  town,  and  kept  in  a  cabin  of  unhewn  logs  smeared  with 
mud  what  was  known  as  a  store.  There  the  trappers  bartered 
skins  for  sugar  and  coffee,  and  laid  in  supplies  of  Jamaica  rum. 
There  the  better  class  of  farmers  found  such  articles  of  finery 
or  use  as  were  the  delight  of  their  sweethearts  or  their  wives, 
sun-bonnets,  gayly  colored  ribbons,  tin  spoons,  and  iron  pots. 
On  this  store  Clark  had  long  had  his  eye.  The  owner  was  a 
Spaniard.  A  Spanish  officer  had  seized  the  goods  of  Amis,  a 
native  of  the  States,  and  he  saw  no  reason  why  he,  an  Ameri 
can  officer,  should  not  seize  the  goods  of  a  native  of  Spain. 
He  accordingly,  one  dark  night,  dispatched  a  fellow  named 
Dalton  with  a  guard  of  soldiers  to  take  the  store.  It  was  late 
when  Dalton  reached  the  place.  The  Spaniard  was  asleep,  but 
was  roused  by  the  noise  at  his  door,  and,  in  that  mixture  of  bad 
Spanish  and  bad  English  which  did  duty  as  a  language  at  Yin 
cennes,  demanded  what  was  wanted.  Dalton  made  him  under 
stand  that  his  cellar  was  to  be  searched.  He  struck  a  light, 
opened  the  door,  and  led  the  way  to  the  cellar.  Dalton  made 
a  hasty  survey  of  the  barrels  and  boxes  that  littered  the  floor, 
came  out,  set  a  guard  about  the  cabin,  and  went  back  to  his 
quarters.  Early  the  next  morning  he  returned  with  a  force  of 
men,  plundered  the  cellar,  and  went  off  with  great  quantities 
of  taffy,  sugar,  coffee,  wine,  kegs  of  brandy,  bundles  of  peltry, 
and  bales  of  goods.  Whatever  could  be  used  to  clothe  the 
troops  Clark  retained.  The  rest  he  put  up  at  public  auction 
and  sold,  while  the  despoiled  and  ruined  merchant  fled  down 
the  river,  vowing  vengeance  on  his  spoilers.  An  officer  of  the 
recruits  named  Bussaroon  was  then  dispatched  to  the  settlers 
on  the  Illinois.  He  was  charged  to  urge  them  to  conciliate 
the  Indians ;  to  notify  them  of  the  capture  at  Natchez,  of  the 
reprisal  at  Yincennes,  and  to  advise  them  to  lay  hold  of  any 
Spanish  property  they  could,* 

*  My  account  of  the  seizure  at  Fort  Vincennes  is  taken  from  the  deposition 
made  to  the  Committee  of  Investigation  by  Daniel  Neeves,  one  of  Dalton's  guards. 
See  Diplomatic  Correspondence  of  the  Revolution,  vol.  vi,  p.  211. 


1786.         THE   VIRGINIA   LEGISLATURE   PETITIONED.  381 

Meanwhile,  the  Kentuckians  were  appointing  committees 
of  correspondence,  and  preparing  two  papers  which  indicated 
most  clearly  the  spirit  they  were  in.  One  was  a  petition  to 
the  Virginia  Assembly,  and  was  the  work  of  the  delegates  who 
sat  in  that  body  from  the  district  of  Kentucky.  The  other 
was  a  pretended  letter  from  a  gentleman  residing  at  the  falls 
of  the  Ohio  to  his  friend  in  New  England,  and  was  the  work 
of  an  unknown  hand.  The  petition  was  a  vigorous  protest 
against  the  hated  proposition  of  Jay,  and  a  bold  assertion  of 
the  right  of  the  United  States  to  use  the  Mississippi.*  The 
language,  indeed,  was  so  strong  that  many  who  declared 
themselves  in  favor  of  it  expressed  a  fear  that  it  would  give 
great  offence  to  Gardoqui,  and  were  for  softening  some  ex 
pressions  and  leaving  out  others.  But  among  those  who 
thought  differently  was  Madison.  He  fully  sympathized  with 
the  indignation  of  the  western  men,  and  he  thought  he  now 
saw  an  excellent  chance  to  assist  them,  while  at  the  same 
time  he  helped  forward  a  favorite  project  of  his  own. 
Nothing  lay  nearer  to  his  heart  than  to  have  Virginia  adopt 
the  report  of  the  Annapolis  Convention.  But  the  great 
change  which  had  in  the  course  of  the  autumn  come  over 
the  feelings  of  leading  Virginians,  made  him  despair  of  suc 
cess.  He  was,  he  said,  on  his  return  to  Richmond,  shocked 
to  find  that  the  behavior  of  Congress  in  the  Mississippi  affair 
had  produced  such  ruinous  results.  Some  men,  who  had 
always  been  conspicuous  as  stanch  supporters  of  the  Federal 
authority,  had  become  greatly  soured.  The  ardor  of  others 
had  been  cooled,  f  He  determined,  however,  to  do  what 
he  could ;  he  went  to  the  Kentucky  delegates,  assured  them  of 
his  support,  presented  the  importance  of  sending  representa 
tives  to  Philadelphia,  won  them  over,  and  struck  a  bargain. 
He  agreed  to  speak  for  the  petition.  They  agreed  to  vote  for 
a  delegation ;  scarcely  had  this  been  arranged  when  the  ques 
tion  came  up  in  the  House.  On  the  third  of  November  it  was 
decided  that  a  law  in  conformity  with  the  report  of  the  An 
napolis  Convention  ought  to  pass,  and  a  committee  was  named 
to  prepare  one.  On  the  seventh  of  the  month  the  bill  was 


*  Journal  of  the  House  of  Delegates  of  Virginia,  1786,  p.  46. 
f  Madison  to  Washington,  December  7,  1786. 


382     THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

reported ;  two  days  later  it  was  passed.  The  vote  was  unan 
imous.* 

Three  weeks  now  went  by  before  the  Kentucky  petition 
was  reached.  At  last,  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  November,  the 
House  went  into  a  committee  of  the  whole  to  consider  it.  The 
discussion  was  long  and  full,  but  the  opinions  of  the  members 
were  all  one  way.  Indeed,  before  the  day  closed,  a  set  of  reso 
lutions,  couched  in  language  less  violent  than  that  of  the  peti 
tion,  was  voted  without  one  dissentient  voice,  f 

The  pretended  letter  from  the  gentleman  at  the  falls  of  the 
Ohio  bore  date  five  days  later.  It  did  not  upon  its  face  differ 
greatly  from  the  hundreds  of  epistles  which  at  that  time 
swelled  the  mail-bags  and  were  read  by  the  post-riders.  The 
complaints  with  which  it  was  filled  were  in  sentiment,  if  not  in 
language,  much  like  those  in  which,  under  the  excitement  of 
the  times,  the  most  austere  patriots  and  trained  statesmen  were 
accustomed  to  indulge,  such  as  Washington  expressed  to  Lee, 
and  such  as  may  be  found  scattered  through  the  letters  of  Jef 
ferson,  of  Madison,  and  Monroe.  Yet  the  paper  was  so  artfully 
constructed  as  to  be  well  calculated  to  arouse  the  very  senti 
ments  it  affected  to  describe.  The  late  commercial  treaty,  said 
the  writer,  has  given  the  west  country  a  universal  shock.  To 
sell  us,  and  make  us  vassals  to  the  Spaniards,  is  a  grievance  not 
to  be  borne.  The  acts  which  brought  about  our  revolt  from 
Great  Britain  were  not  half  so  barefaced  and  impudent.  To 
give  us  liberty  to  carry  our  corn,  our  beef,  our  pork  down  the 
river,  only  to  find  that  at  the  end  of  the  journey  it  becomes 
subject  to  Spanish  laws,  is  an  insult  to  our  understanding.  We 
know  by  a  woful  experience  what  becomes  of  such  goods. 
We  know  that  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  Spaniards  to  take  our 
produce  at  what  price  they  will.  AVe  know  that  large  quanti 
ties  of  flour,  meal,  and  tobacco  have  been  confiscated.  This  the 
West  will  not  endure.  The  country  has  been  settled  but  six 
years,  and  that  in  the  face  of  a  savage  foe ;  yet,  in  spite  of  this, 
and  of  the  great  market  emigration  has  made,  the  produce  that 
is  en  hand  each  year  is  simply  enormous.  Flour  and  pork  are 

*  Journal  of  the  House  of  Delegates  of  Virginia,  1786.    Madison  to  Jefferson, 
December  4,  1786. 

f  Journal  of  the  House  of  Virginia  Delegates,  session  1786,  pp.  66,  67. 


1786.  THE  PEOPLE   OF  FRANKLIN".  383 

selling  at  twelve  shillings  a  hundred ;  beef  is  in  proportion. 
Any  quantity  of  Indian  corn  can  be  had  for  ninepence  the 
bushel.  Shall  all  this  be  done  for  the  good  of  the  Spaniards  ? 
Shall  we  be  bondsmen  of  the  Spaniards,  as  the  children  of 
Israel  were  bondsmen  of  the  Egyptians  ?  Shall  one  part  of  the 
Americans  be  slaves  and  another  freemen  ?  Our  state  is  so 
bad  that  any  exertion  to  better  it  will  be  just.  We  are  indeed 
preparing  to  make  that  exertion.  .  Spanish  goods  at  Vincennes 
and  Illinois  have  already  been  taken,  for  we  are  determined, 
if  we  cannot  trade  down  the  Mississippi,  they  shall  not  trade 
up.  Twenty  thousand  troops  can  easily  be  raised  west  of  the 
Alleglianics  and  the  Appalachians  to  drive  the  Spaniards  from 
their  settlements  at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  If  this  is  not 
countenanced  in  the  East,  we  will  throw  off  our  allegiance  and 
seek  else\vhere  for  help.  Nor  will  we  seek  in  vain,  for  even 
now  Great  Britain  stands  with  open  arms  to  receive  us.* 

Many  copies  of  this  letter  were  made  and  sent  over  the 
river  to  Franklin,  were  there  widely  circulated,  and  read  at  the 
musters,  the  town-meetings,  and  the  court-openings  with  great 
effect.  In  truth,  the  people  of  -Franklin  were  in  so  irritable  a 
frame  of  mind  that  no  story  that  could  come  to  them  respect 
ing  the  intentions  of  Congress  was  too  wild  to  be  believed. 
They  were  sure  they  were  about  to  be,  if  they  had  not  already 
been,  made  over  to  Spain  as  the  price  of  some  commercial  con 
cessions  to  the  East.  Their  condition  was,  in  fact,  most  lament 
able.  Two  governments  contended  for  their  obedience.  Both 
levied  taxes.  Both  enacted  laws.  Each  government  had  its 
courts,  its  justices,  its  sheriffs,  its  militia  captains,  and  its  dig 
nitaries  of  state.  Whatever  act  was  done  by  one  side  was  sure 
to  be  imitated  and  surpassed  by  the  other.  The  contest  re 
sembled  somewhat  the  fencing  scene  in  Hamlet,  but  was  less 
bloody.  Laertes  wounds  Hamlet ;  then,  in  scuffling,  they 
change  rapiers,  and  Hamlet  wounds  Laertes.  Sevier's  follow 
ers  attempted  to  hold  court  at  Jonesboro.  But  while  the  law- 


*  Secret  Journals  of  Congress.  The  letter  is  given  in  full  in  the  Independent 
Gazette  or  Chronicle  of  Freedom  for  July  7,  1787.  In  the  same  paper  are  two 
other  letters  of  like  strain.  One  of  them,  "  Copy  of  a  Circular  Letter  Directed  to 
the  Different  Courts  in  the  Western  Country,"  contains  a  call  for  a  meeting  to 
frame  "  a  spirited  but  decent  remonstrance  to  Congress." 


384    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

yer  for  the  prosecution  in  a  case  was  in  the  midst  of  an  im 
pressive  harangue  to  the  court,  Tipton  entered  with  a  body  of 
men,  seized  upon  the  papers,  and  turned  the  judge  and  the 
lawyers  out  of  doors.  A  few  days  later  a  party  of  Franklinites 
came  upon  a  log  hut  where  a  justice  was  sitting  under  the  au 
thority  of  North  Carolina.  Recalling  the  scene  at  Jonesboro, 
they  went  in,  took  the  papers  from  the  clerk,  broke  up  the 
court,  and  drove  the  company  into  the  road.  Tipton  then 
went  to  the  house  of  Sevier,  where  the  papers  were  deposited, 
and  carried  them  off  by  force.  Sevier  in  turn  repaired  to  Tip- 
ton's  house,  regained  possession  of  the  documents,  and  hid 
them  in  a  cave.* 

But  while  the  Governor  was  busily  engaged  chasing  judges 
and  hiding  briefs,  his  attention  was  suddenly  drawn  to  a  matter 
which  required  for  its  management  the  exercise  of  all  his  au 
thority,  courage,  and  skill.  The  Indians  rose  on  the  frontier. 
Lulled  by  the  willingness  with  which  Old  Tassel  and  Hanging 
Maw  had  signed  the  late  treaty,  settlers  had  pushed  along  the 
north  side  of  the  Holston  as  far  as  Beaver  creek.  There  a 
large  clearing  had  been  ,made,  and  several  houses,  built  of  tree- 
trunks  laid  one  upon  another,  roofed  with  strips  of  bark,  and 
provided  with  openings  wherein  greased  paper  did  duty  as 
glass,  had  been  put  up.  But  the  sight  of  so  flourishing  a  set 
tlement,  so  remote  from  the  source  of  defence,  and  exposed  on 
three  sides  to  attack,  was  too  tempting  for  the  Indians.  They 
sacked  it,  killed  two  men,  and  drove  the  rest  back  to  the  towns. 
And  now  the  frontier  swarmed  with  Indians.  "War  parties 
went  out  from  the  Cherokees,  the  Chippewas,  the  Twightwees, 
the  Tawas,  the  Pottawattamies,  and  Shawanese.  It  was  feared 
that  before  many  weeks  had  passed  a  thousand  braves  in  war 
paint  would  be  on  the  march  for  the  settlements,  burning  and 
killing  as  they  went.  Such  a  prospect  might  well  make  the 
heart  of  the  stoutest  frontiersman  quake.  For  of  all  wars,  an 
Indian  war  was  the  most  terrible.  The  miseries  of  a  rupture 
with  Spain  would  be  as  nothing  to  it.  The  lighting  would 
then  be  done  in  the  full  light  of  day,  in  an  open  field,  and 
would  be  mollified  by  all  the  usages  of  civilized  men.  Every 

*  See  Haywood's  History  of  Tennessee.     Ramsey's  Annals  of  Tennessee,  pp. 
339,  340.     Marshall's  History  of  Kentucky. 


1786.  SETTER'S  INDIAN  EXPEDITION.  385 

one  would  know  that,  if  he  were  so  unfortunate  as  to  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemy,  he  would  be  treated  with  a  reasonable 
amount  of  kindness  and  consideration.  His  wounds  would  be 
dressed,  he  would  be  well  housed  and  fed,  and  he  would,  at  the 
first  opportunity,  be  exchanged.  Not  so  with  the  Indian  cap 
tive.  With  his  hands  bound  behind  him,  he  would  be  driven, 
hungry,  thirsty,  and  smeared  with  blood,  to  some  distant  village, 
and  might  count  himself  most  happy  if  the  friends  who  came 
to  deliver  him  and  his  companions  were  not  forced  to  pick  his 
bones  out  of  a  heap  of  ashes,  or  carry  home  his  corpse  scalped, 
scorched,  lacerated,  and  maimed. 

So  soon,  therefore,  as  the  news  came,  Sevier  was  all  activity. 
A  call  was  made  for  volunteers,  and  in  a  few  days  one  hun 
dred  and  sixty  horsemen  were  on  the  march  for  the  heart  of 
the  Indian  country.  They  came  first  to  Houston  station  on  the 
Little  river,  then  crossed  the  Tennessee  at  Island  Town,  passed 
by  the  Tellier  plains,  and  went  over  the  Unaka  mountains  to 
the  Hiwassee.  There  were  three  Cherokee  towns  known  among 
the  trappers  as  the  valley  towns.  Sevier  at  once  attacked  them 
with  great  energy,  took  them,  killed  fifteen  Indians,  and  set  fire 
to  the  lodges.  Thence  scouts  were  dispatched,  but  they  had 
not  been  long  gone  when  they  returned  with  word  that  a  trail 
had  been  discovered  a  few  leagues  away,  that  it  was  fresh,  that 
it  was  large,  and  that  all  signs  indicated  a  considerable  force  of 
Indians  near  at  hand.  A  pursuit  was  ordered.  Horses  were 
saddled,  guns  loaded  and  primed,  and  the  trail  soon  reached. 
But  when  those  of  the  party  who  had  grown  old  fighting  In 
dians  saw  it,  they  declared  that  upward  of  a  thousand  braves 
must  be  in  the  band.  To  go  on  would,  they  said,  be  madness. 
The  trail  undoubtedly  led  to  some  narrow  defile  in  the  hills,  or 
to  some  carefully  planned  ambuscade,  where  the  pursuers 
would  on  a  sudden  find  themselves  surrounded  and  over 
powered  by  tremendous  odds,  and  be  cut  off  to  a  man.  The 
punishment,  too,  already  inflicted  on  the  Indians  was  severe. 
There  was  therefore  no  good  reason  for  taking  the  risks  of  a 
further  advance.  This  counsel  prevailed,  and  Sevier  ordered 
his  men  to  go  back  to  the  settlements. 

A  very  different  fate  meanwhile  awaited  a  much  larger 
expedition  that  went  out  from  Kentucky.  The  result  was  in 

VOL.  i. — 26 


386    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

truth  a  shameful  failure,  and  the  men  came  home  without 
having  fired  a  single  shot  or  seen  a  single  foe.  General  Clark 
was  in  command,  and  to  this  fact  is  to  be  ascribed  no  small 
part  of  the  ills  encountered.  Clark  was,  like  Sevier,  a  dema 
gogue  and  an  agitator ;  but  he  was  not,  like  Sevier,  a  man  of 
dauntless  courage  and  iron  will,  quick  to  think,  quick  to  act, 
and  a  natural-born  ruler  of  men.  The  raid  into  the  Cherokee 
country  was  well  planned,  rapidly  executed,  and  successful. 
The  Wabash  expedition  was  from  the  start  badly  arranged, 
badly  led,  mutinous,  and  disastrous.  Early  in  the  summer 
about  a  thousand  men  had  answered  to  the  call  for  volunteers, 
and  assembled  at  the  falls  of  the  Ohio.  There  a  short  delay 
occurred,  while  food  and  ammunition  were  collected ;  but,  as 
soon  as  the  quartermaster  reported  that  enough  had  come  in, 
the  army  took  up  its  march  for  Yincennes.  The  rations  and 
the  powder  were  sent  by  water  in  nine  boats.  The  troops 
went  by  land,  driving  a  herd  of  cattle  before  them,  and  came 
first  to  the  fort.  There  they  had  hoped  to  find  the  boats,  but 
three  days,  five  days,  a  week  dragged  by,  and  none  came.  At 
last,  on  the  morning  of  the  ninth  day,  the  little  fleet  of  keel- 
boats  and  barges  was  descried  coming  slowly  up  the  river. 
Shoals  and  low  water  in  the  Wabash  had  detained  it.  The 
news  that  the  boats  were  in  sight  was  welcomed  by  the  men 
with  every  manifestation  of  delight ;  but  their  joy  was  speedily 
followed  by  bitter  murmurings  and  complaints.  Half  the  pro 
visions  had  rotted  on  the  voyage,  while  of  the  stock  of  food 
brought  by  land,  nothing  save  a  few  bullocks  remained.  To 
obtain  more  supplies  was  out  of  the  question,  and  the  troops 
were  instantly  put  on  short  rations.  From  that  time  forth  all 
was  disorder  and  discontent.  As  the  march  progressed  the 
mutterings  grew  louder  and  louder,  orders  were  obeyed  with 
less  and  less  alacrity,  and  when  the  deserted  Indian  towns  on 
the  Vermilion  were  reached  the  troops  mutinied.  Clark,  in 
an  evil  hour,  had  sent  out  runners  to  offer  the  Indians  war  or 
peace.  That  so  old  a  soldier  should  have  been  guilty  of  so 
gross  a  bit  of  folly  is  indeed  strange.  If  his  mission  were 
one  of  peace,  he  ought  never  to  have  quitted  the  falls  of  the 
Ohio.  If  his  purpose  was  to  make  war,  and  it  undoubtedly 
was,  he  ought  not  to  have  thrown  away  the  many  advantages 


1786.  FEARS  OF  A  GENERAL  INDIAN  WAR.  387 

of  a  surprise,  especially  when  contending  with  so  crafty  and 
so  cunning  a  foe.  In  this  opinion  his  officers  and  his  men 
shared.  A  march  through  the  wilderness  and  over  the  plains 
was,  they  said,  bad  enough  even  when  food  was  plenty  and  no 
enemy  near  ;  but  to  make  such  a  journey  with  hungry  stom 
achs,  in  order  to  fight  Indians,  and  then  to  find,  after  all  done 
and  suffered,  that  their  own  leader  had  betrayed  them,  was 
too  much.  Three  hundred  of  them  one  morning  refused  to 
go  a  mile  farther,  saddled  their  horses,  and  turned  their  faces 
homeward.  Clark,  overwhelmed  with  shame,  remonstrated, 
argued,  threatened,  and  at  last  begged  them,  with  tears  run 
ning  down  his  face,  not  to  desert  him.  E"o  heed  was  given  to 
his  entreaties,  and  the  mutineers  set  off  for  Vincennes. 

Scarce  were  they  out  of  sight  when  the  few  that  remained 
lield  a  council,  discussed  the  perils  of  their  situation,  and 
speedily  resolved  to  go  after  their  friends.  In  a  moment  all 
was  confusion  in  the  camp  ;  blankets  were  hastily  collected, 
rations  distributed,  and,  before  many  hours  had  gone  by,  the 
whole  band  was  in  full  retreat.  They  came  up  with  the  de 
serters  toward  evening,  and  camped  with  them  that  night. 
Next  morning  the  troops,  scorning  order  and  discipline,  went 
by  the  nearest  route  to  their  homes. "x" 

The  sudden  return  of  the  expedition  without  having  struck 
a  blow  caused  general  alarm.  Great  preparations  had  been 
made  for  it,  and  great  things  expected  in  return.  When  the 
call  for  troops  was  issued,  men  had  hastened  from  all  quarters 
to  put  clown  their  names  in  the  list  of  volunteers.  So  many 
of  the  first  characters  of  the  district  joined  the  army  that  the 
meeting  of  the  convention  to  decide  the  question  of  the  in 
dependence  of  Kentucky  had  to  be  postponed.  Yet  what,  it 
was  asked,  had  come  of  all  this?  The  provisions  had  been 
wasted.  Time  had  been  squandered,  and  the  men  had  gone' 
muttering,  grumbling,  and  half  fed  to  within  two  days'  march 
of  the  Indians,  had  sent  word  to  the  chiefs  that  they  must 
make  peace  or  fight,  and  had  then,  in  a  moment,  turned  about 
and  fled.  What  was  to  prevent  the  Shawanese  coming  out  of 

*  The  account  of  Clark's  Wabash  expedition  has  been  mainly  taken  from 
Marshall's  History  of  Kentucky,  vol.  i,  pp.  248,  249  ;  Dillon's  History  of  Indiana, 
pp.  201,  202  ;  and  Albach's  Western  Annals. 


388    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

their  ambuscade  among  the  defiles  of  Pine  creek  and  marching 
straight  upon  the  settlements  ?  There  was,  however,  much  to 
prevent  sucii  a  calamity.  For,  while  the  alarmists  were  com 
plaining,  Colonel  Logan,  a  brave  and  skilful  officer,  crossed 
the  Ohio,  where  Maysville  now  stands,  with  five  hundred 
mounted  riflemen,  penetrated  the  Indian  country  to  the  head 
of  Mad  river,  burned  eight  towns,  laid  waste  many  hundreds 
of  cornfields,  killed  twenty  braves,  and,  with  eighty  prisoners, 
hastened  back  to  Kentucky. 

There  he  found  the  settlers  greatly  excited  over  the  affair 
at  Yincennes,  and  anxiously  awaiting  the  result  of  their  me 
morial  to  the  Virginia  House  of  Deputies.  Every  emigrant 
that  came  down  the  river  was  stopped  and  closely  questioned 
as  to  the  state  of  feeling  beyond  the  mountains,  and  the  latest 
information  concerning  the  treaty.  One  of  the  malcontents, 
named  Thomas  Green,  was  particularly  active  in  this  work. 
He  seems  to  have  been  one  of  those  restless,  aspiring  charac 
ters  that  are  never  happy  unless  stirring  up  strife  or  foment 
ing  discord.  He  had  allied  himself  closely  with  Clark,  had 
written  the  famous  letter  to  the  gentleman  in  New  England, 
had  agreed  with  Clark  to  bear  half  the  expense  of  a  letter  to 
the  Governor  of  Georgia,  and  now  addressed  himself  to  Jay. 
His  language  was  strong,  but  it  expressed  no  more  than  the 
ill-humor  of  the  settlers  warranted.  The  commercial  treaty 
with  Spain  was,  he  said,  cruel,  oppressive,  and  unjust.  The 
whole  West  was  astonished  at  the  proposition  to  close  the  Mis 
sissippi.  It  was  truly  surprising  to  every  man  of  sense  that 
the  Legislature  of  the  United  States,  which  had  been  so  ap 
plauded  for  the  assertion  and  defence  of  the  rights  of  man, 
should  in  so  short  a  time  seek  to  subject  the  greater  part  of 
its  dominion  to  a  slavery  worse  than  had  ever  been  imposed 
by  Great  Britain.  Ireland  was  a  free  country  to  what  the 
West  would  be  when  navigation  was  shut,  and  all  the  benefits 
of  toil  given  to  the  Spaniards.* 

But  his  letter  to  the  authorities  of  Georgia  proved  most 
disastrous.  He  had  intrusted  the  instrument  for  safe  de 
livery  to  a  messenger  named  Wells.  Ignorant,  talkative,  and 
proud  of  his  charge,  Wells  boasted  wherever  he  went  of  the 

*  Green  to  Jay.     Diplomatic  Correspondence  of  the  Revolution,  vol.  vi. 


1786.  THE   FEDERAL  CONVENTION.  389 

mission  lie  was  on,  of  the  great  sum  he  was  to  get  for  per 
forming  it,  and  showed  the  letter  freely.  Among  those  who 
saw  it  as  he  passed  through  Danville  were  some  stanch 
friends  of  government.  By  them  a  careful  copy  was  taken, 
sent  at  once  to  the  Governor  of  Virginia,  and  in  a  few  weeks 
the  whole  matter  was  laid  before  the  council.  Clark  solemnly 
protested  on  his  honor  that  he  never  so  much  as  saw  the 
letter,  that  he  did  not  know  the  contents,  and  that  he  was  an 
ill-used  man.  But  it  was  thought  a  little  singular  that  one  so 
old  in  public  affairs  should,  with  childlike  simplicity,  con 
tribute  to  the  expense  of  a  letter  firmly  binding  him,  on  the 
slightest  encouragement,  to  raise  an  army,  go  over  the  bor 
der  and  take  possession  of  the  disputed  land,  yet  never  read 
the  writing.  His  word  w^as  therefore  doubted.  His  con 
duct  was  denounced,  the  powers  assumed  by  him  disavowed, 
the  prosecution  of  all  concerned  in  the  seizure  of  the  Vin- 
cennes  goods  ordered,  and  a  formal  notice  dispatched  to  Con 
gress. 

Much  of  the  excitement,  however,  had  by  this  time  spent 
itself,  and  much  had  been  allayed  by  the  vigorous  language  in 
which  the  Virginia  Assembly  had  protested.  The  free  navi 
gation  of  the  Mississippi,  such  was  the  language  of  the  me 
morial,  was  a  bountiful  gift  of  nature  to  the  United  States. 
It  had,  too,  been  secured  to  them  by  the  late  revolution.  The 
Confederation  was  constructed  on  the  broad  principle  of  equal 
rights.  A  sacrifice  of  the  rights  of  any  one  part  to  the  real  or 
supposed  interests  of  another  would  therefore  be  a  flagrant 
violation  of  justice,  and  an  alarming  innovation  in  the  system 
of  the  Union. *  This  passed  the  Houses  by  a  unanimous  vote 
on  the  twenty-ninth  of  November.  Next  day  Madison  an 
nounced  that  he  would,  on  the  fourth  of  December,  move  the 
election  of  delegates  to  the  Federal  Convention  to  be  held  at 
Philadelphia  in  the  spring. 

The  convention  of  which  he  spoke  was  that  body  of  men 
to  whom  we  owe  the  Constitution.  The  commissioners  who 
met  at  Annapolis  in  the  previous  September  had  recommend 
ed  Congress  to  call  it.  At  Annapolis  the  attendance  had  been 
slim.  ~No  delegates  came  from  Georgia,  from  South  Carolina, 

*  Journal  of  the  House  of  Delegates  of  Virginia,  session  1786,  pp.  66,  67. 


390    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

or  from  any  State  to  the  east  of  the  Hudson.  Three  times 
they  had  been  chosen  in  Massachusetts.  Twice  they  refused 
to  serve.  The  third  time  they  accepted  and  set  out,  but,  like 
the  delegates  from  Rhode  Island,  were  met  on  the  way  by 
news  that  the  convention  had  broken  up.  The  session  indeed 
was  a  short  one,  for  the  few  who  came  had  such  limited  pow 
ers  that  the  delegates  contented  themselves  with  lamenting 
the  wretched  state  of  national  affairs,  and  urging  a  new  con 
vention  of  delegates,  with  enlarged  powers,  to  meet  at  Phila 
delphia  in  May.  Hamilton  furnished  the  draft  of  the  report, 
the  convention  spent  two  days  in  debating  and  amending,  and 
then  adopted  it  and  adjourned.  From  Annapolis  it  was  car 
ried  to  New  York,  where  Rufus  King,  with  that  narrow- 
mindedness  which  he  so  often  displayed,  prevented  Congress 
recommending  it  to  the  States. 

But  the  men  of  Virginia  were  happily  of  a  better  kind. 
There  the  Assembly  took  up  the  report  of  the  commission 
ers  in  the  second  week  of  the  session,  and  appointed  a  select 
committee  of  seven  to  prepare  and  bring  in  a  bill.*  The 
seven  reported  four  days  later.f  Madison  drew  the  pream 
ble,  which  set  forth  in  earnest  and  dignified  eloquence  the 
reasons  which  prompted  the  act.  JSTo  opposition  was  en 
countered.  The  three  readings  were  without  debate,  and 
on  the  ninth  of  November  the  bill  passed.  But  it  was  not 
till  December  that  the  commissioners  were  chosen  on  a  joint 
ballot.  ;f  They  were  seven  in  number,  were  men  who  had 
long  been  in  public  life,  and  were  thought  to  be,  in  Virginia, 
among  the  foremost  statesmen  of  the  time.  Washington  was 
the  first  elected.  Then  came  Patrick  Henry,  then  Edmund 
Randolph,  then  John  Blair,  Madison,  Mason,  and  Wythe. 
Two  names  were  wanting  in  the  list,  which  many  declared 
should  have  been  there.  But  it  was  afterward  asserted  that 
Edmund  Pendleton  was  then  suffering  from  a  dangerous 
malady  which  threatened  his  life,*  and  that  Richard  Henry 
Lee  was  no  longer  the  favorite  he  once  had  been.  He  was 
known  to  be  much  in  favor  of  shutting  up  the  Mississippi. 

*  Journals  Virginia  House  of  Delegates,  November  3,  1786. 

f  Journals,  November  7,  1786.  \  Ibid.,  December  4,  1786. 

*  See  a  letter  from  Madison  to  Jefferson,  December  4,  1786. 


1787.   LACK  OF  A  FEDERAL  SPIRIT  IN  MASSACHUSETTS.  391 

He  was  suspected  of  being  in  no  sympathy  with  the  purposes 
of  the  convention.* 

And  now  the  example  set  by  Virginia  was  speedily  followed 
by  others.  Indeed,  before  Congress  had  given  its  sanction  to 
the  Federal  Convention,  six  States  appointed  delegates.f  Mas 
sachusetts  made  a  seventh.  Bufr  the  act  by  which  she  bound 
herself  to  send  representatives  to  Philadelphia  was  not  agreed 
to  till  the  very  day  on  which  Congress,  after  much  deliberation, 
approved  of  the  call  of  the  convention.;): 

By  those  firm  friends  of  government  who  waited  with 
feverish  anxiety  for  the  action  of  the  States,  the  hearty  con 
currence  of  Massachusetts  was  hailed  with  delight.  For  no 
where  had  the  antifederal  feeling  been  so  bitter  and  so  strong 
as  in  New  England,  and  of  all  New  England  it  was  strongest 
and  bitterest  in  Massachusetts.  There  the  sovereignty  of  the 
State  had  always  been  a  favorite  principle  of  legislation.*  One 
of  her  delegates,  long  before  the  definitive  treaty  was  signed, 
had  been  bold  enough,  in  a  fit  of  ill-humor,  to  stand  up  in  the 
halls  of  Congress  and  throw  out  threats  of  a  separate  confeder 
acy  beyond  the  Hudson.  J  Another  had,  upon  a  public  occa 
sion,  ventured  to  call  the  Continental  Government  a  foreign 
one.A  Nay,  more,  in  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1Y86  a  pro 
ject  was  actually  matured  to  go  out  of  the  Union  and  form  a 
new  confederation  of  New  England  States.  But  the  rebellion 
of  Shays  broke  out.  In  an  instant  public  opinion  changed  com 
pletely.  Stern  patriots,  who,  while  all  went  well,  talked  of  the 
dangers  of  baleful  aristocracies,  soon  learned  to  talk  of  the  dan 
gers  of  baleful  democracies.  They  beheld  the  Legislature  in- 

*  Letter  from  Madison  to  Washington,  November  8,  1786. 

f  The  six  were  Virginia,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  North  Carolina, 
and  Georgia,  \  February  21,  1787. 

*  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  John  Adams  was    a   stanch  Federalist.      Yet 
Adams,  in  his  Defence  of  the  Constitutions  of  Government  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  which  he  published  in  1786,  made  the  remark :  "  Congress  is  not  a  legis 
lative,  but  a  diplomatic  assembly."     First  edition,  p.  362.     When  Jefferson  called 
his  attention  to  it  "  as  not  entirely  accurate  and  not  likely  to  do  good  "  (Jefferson 
to  Adams,  February  23,  1787),  Adams  explained  that  he  spoke  of  Congress  as  it 
then  was  constituted,  and  not  as  Congress  should  be  in  the  future.     See  letter  of 
Adams  to  Jefferson,  March  1,  1787. 

||  Madison's  Debates,  vol.  i,  p.  357.     Also,  pp.  428-430. 
A  See  Austin's  Life  of  Gerry,  vol.  i,  pp.  407-415. 


392    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

suited,  the  courts  mobbed,  justice  defeated,  the  strong  arm  of 
the  State  openly  defied.  Like  men  of  sense  and  candor,  they 
at  once  saw  their  errors,  renounced  them,  and  frankly  confessed 
that,  in  place  of  detracting  from,  it  was  the  duty  of  every  good 
citizen  to  add  to  and  strengthen  the  powers  of  Congress.*  But 
the  most  marked  of  all  the  conversions  was  that  of  Rufus 
King.  King  had  from  the  first  been  among  the  determined 
opponents  of  Federal  authority.  No  arguments  could  be  found 
weighty  enough  to  convince  him  that  any  good  could  come 
from  a  powerful  and  efficient  national  Government.  He  had 
drawn  the  letter  in  which  the  Massachusetts  delegates  gave 
their  reasons  for  withholding  the  resolutions  of  1785,  and  had, 
in  the  October  previous,  appeared  before  the  General  Court  to 
speak  against  the  plan  of  a  convention  of  the  States,  f  But  he 
now  went  from  one  extreme  to  the  other  with  a  rapidity  that 
will  surprise  no  one  who  has  watched  the  course  of  men  in  revo 
lutionary  times.  He  admitted  his  mistake,  and  wrote  to  his  old 
colleague,  Gerry,  exhorting  him  to  lend  his  aid  to  effect  a  call  of 
the  convention.  "  Events,"  he  wrote,  "  are  hurrying  us  to  a  cri 
sis  ;  prudent  and  sagacious  men  should  be  ready  to  seize  the  most 
favorable  circumstances  to  establish  a  more  perfect  and  vigorous 
Government."  J  From  that  time  forth  he  was  a  Federalist. 

What  action  would  be  taken  by  New  Hampshire  nobody 
knew.  What  would  be  done  by  Rhode  Island  no  one  cared. 
The  unhappy  condition  into  which  that  once  prosperous  State 
had  fallen  was  indeed  most  deplorable.  She  was  scarce  looked 
upon  as  any  longer  a  member  of  the  Union.  Her  name  had  be 
come  a  byword  and  a  reproach,  and  was  never  mentioned  with 
out  a  wagging  of  the  head  and  a  shooting  out  of  the  tongue. 
She  was  nicknamed  Rogue's  Island ;  *  her  people  were  spoken 
of  as  Know  Ye  men,  and  her  acts  as  Know  Ye  measures.] 


*  See  a  statement  of  General  Knox,  referred  to  in  a  letter  of  Washington. 
Sparks's  Washington,  vol.  ix,  pp.  226,  227. 

f  See  an  Address  made  to  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  by  Rufus  King, 
October,  1786.  Also,  Boston  Magazine  for  1786,  p.  406. 

\  See  a  letter  of  Rufus  King  to  Elbridge  Gerry,  February  11,  1787.  Austin's 
Life  of  Gerry,  vol.  ii,  pp.  7,  8. 

*  See  A  Dream,  Boston  Gazette,  October  2,  1786.     See,  also,  a  paper  on  Connec 
ticut  Currency  in  New  Haven  Historical  Society  Papers,  vol.  i. 

|  New  York  Packet,  June  15,  1787. 


1787.  THE  ANTIFEDERAL  PARTY.  393 

It  was  said,  with  great  truth,  that  it  was  impolitic  for  a  Rhode 
Islander  in  his  travels  to  own  his  country  unless  he  was,  so 
fortunate  as  to  be  able  to  prove  a  uniform  and  decided  hatred 
of  Know  Ye  men  and  measures.  When  a  merchant  violated 
his  engagements,  when  an  agent  betrayed  his  trust,  when  a 
tradesman  defrauded  his  customers,  the  term  of  reproach  ap 
plied  to  him  was  Rhode  Island's  faith.  When  language  failed 
of  odious  epithets  to  portray  the  finished  villain,  he  was  declared 
to  be  as  contemptible  as  a  Know  Ye  Judge.*  When  a  criminal 
broke  jail,  or  a  debtor  fled  from  his  creditors,  it  was  sneeringly 
said  that  he  would  surely  be  found  in  Rhode  Island.  The 
most  sanguine  Federalist  never  for  a  moment  supposed  that  a 
State  ruled  by  men  so  given  over  to  dark  and  crooked  ways 
would  join  the  convention.  No  one,  therefore,  felt  any  disap 
pointment  that  she  never  did.  Yet  the  effect  of  her  shameful 
conduct,  combined  with  the  turbulent  scenes  in  Massachusetts, 
was,  in  the  eastern  States,  immense.  In  three  months'  time 
public  opinion  underwent  a  complete  change.  Faith  in  the 
stability  of  the  Union  went  down.  A  strong  distrust  of  repub 
lican  institutions  sprang  up.  No  money,  it  was  said,  is  paid 
into  the  Treasury.  No  respect  is  paid  to  the  Federal  authority. 
Not  a  single  State  complies  with  the  requisitions.  Some  pass 
them  over  in  silence  ;  some  absolutely  reject  them.  It  is  quite 
impossible  that  a  Government  so  weakened  and  despised  can 
much  longer  hold  together,  f  The  malady  has  come  to  a  critical 
stage.  None  but  the  strongest  remedies  will  serve.  The  pa 
tient  must  be  killed  or  cured. 

But  among  those  who  looked  with  favor  on  a  dissolution  of 
the  Union,  many  opinions  prevailed  as  to  what  should  take  its 
place.  At  one  extreme  of  the  Antifederal  party  was  a  body 
of  men,  numerous,  respectable,  and  not  without  influence,  who 
leaned  toward  monarchy  and  were  for  setting  up  a  King4 

*  New  Jersey  Journal,  July  11,  1787. 

f  See  a  letter  from  Madison  to  Pendleton,  February  24,  1787. 

\  "  The  late  turbulent  scenes  in  Massachusetts,  and  infamous  ones  in  Rhode 
Island,  have  done  inexpressible  injury  to  the  republican  character  in  that  part  of 
the  United  States  ;  and  a  propensity  toward  monarchy  is  said  to  have  been  pro 
duced  by  it  in  some  leading  minds."  Madison  to  Pendleton.  See,  also,  a  letter 
from  Madison  to  Washington,  February  21,  1787.  Washington  to  Madison. 
Sparks's  Washington,  vol.  ix,  p.  223. 


394:    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

They  could,  they  protested,  see  no  way  out  of  the  ills  that  lay 
so  thick  on  either  hand  but  by  abandoning  the  attempt  at  re 
publican  government,  and  taking  refuge  in  that  very  system 
they  had  with  so  much  difficulty  just  thrown  off. 

At  the  other  extreme  were  to  be  found  many  men  of  note ; 
almost  all  the  first  characters  in  the  country,  and  a  large  pro 
portion  of  the  community.  They  abhorred,  they  said,  the  idea 
of  a  monarchy  ;  they  would  never  give  up  the  idea  of  a  repub 
lic.  But  they  were  convinced  that  no  one  republican  govern 
ment  could  rule  harmoniously  over  so  vast  a  country,  and  over 
such  conflicting  interests.  They  were  therefore  for  three  sepa 
rate  confederations,  marked  off  by  such  boundaries  as  difference 
of  climate,  diversity  of  occupations,  and  the  natural  products  of 
the  soil  required.  Everybody  knew  that  the  eastern  men  were 
fishers  and  shippers  and  merchants,  while  the  southern  men  were 
planters  and  farmers.  The  late  discussion  over  the  Mississippi 
had  shown  how  impossible  it  was  to  reconcile  the  interests  of 
men  so  variously  employed.  It  was  better,  therefore,  that  they 
should  part ;  and  that,  as  Massachusetts  built  her  ships  and  Vir 
ginia  raised  her  tobacco  and  her  slaves  under  different  climates, 
they  should  do  so  under  different  flags.  They  hoped  there 
would  be  three  republics :  a  republic  of  the  East,  a  republic  of 
the  middle  States,  and  a  republic  of  the  South.* 

Between  these  two  parties  lay  the  great  body  of  the  people. 
They  too  were  anxious  for  a  change,  and  talked  much  of  a  vig 
orous  government.  But  whether  it  was  obtained  by  a  dissolu 
tion  or  a  partition  of  the  Confederation  was  all  one  to  them.f 

The  Assembly  of  Connecticut  did  not  resolve  to  send  dele 
gates  till  Saturday,  the  twelfth  of  May,  two  days  before  the 
convention  was  to  open.  While  the  question  was  under  de 
bate,  Mr.  Huntington,  a  man  of  some  local  fame  and  a  militia 
general  in  the  late  continental  army,  rose  and  addressed  the 
Speaker.  The  measure  under  discussion  had,  he  said,  been 
recommended  by  Congress  and  acceded  to  by  most  of  the 
States.  This  was  to  him  a  good  reason  why  Connecticut 

*  Rives's  Life  of  Madison,  vol.  ii,  p.  187,  where  some  extracts  from  his  Diary 
are  given. 

f  Madison  states  that  this  feeling  was  particularly  strong  in  Connecticut. 
Rives's  Life  and  Times  of  Madison,  vol.  ii,  p.  188. 


1787.          DEBATE   OX  THE  FEDEEAL   CONTENTION".  395 

should  do  likewise.  He  would  gladly  stop  and  say  no  more. 
But  he  felt  constrained  to  go  on,  as  he  had  much  cause  to  think 
that  some  gentlemen  who  heard  him  were  of  the  belief  'that 
the  Confederation  was  sufficient  unto  itself,  and  that  others 
held  the  country  would  be  better  without  any.  The  Confeder 
ation  had  been  framed  while  America  was  smarting  under  the 
hand  of  wilful  power.  It  seemed  to  have  been  the  leading 
object  of  the  framers  to  set  up  an  authority  without  bestowing 
upon  it  any  power  whatever.  No  penalty  was  fastened  to  a 
breach  of  the  contract  between  the  States.  No  means  of 
forcing"  obedience  existed.  The  observance  of  the  articles 

o 

hung  solely  on  the  good- will  and  pleasure  of  each  State.  He 
was  no  prophet,  but  his  calculations  must  indeed  be  wrong  if 
diversity  of  sentiment  and  manners,  if  local  circumstances,  if 
the  unjust  distribution  of  the  debt,  and  the  jealousies  that 
sprang  from  trade,  did  not  bring  forth  heart-burnings  and  strife 
of  the  most  serious  kind.  God  only  knew  where  and  when 
they  would  end.  Was  it  wise  to  trust  the  event  to  chance  and 
leave  government  to  arise  out  of  the  distractions  of  the  mob  ? 
Surely  it  was  far  better,  in  a  cool  and  dispassionate  hour,  to 
consult  with  the  sister  States  on  the  fitness  of  making  needed 
changes  in  the  Confederation.  A  man  removed  from  scenes  of 
danger,  blessed  with  plenty,  and  compassed  by  kind  neighbors, 
was  apt  to  hug  himself  in  his  ease,  and  think  the  independent 
State  of  Connecticut  a  host  unto  herself.  Was  this  so  ?  Far 
from  it.  She  was  open  to  the  insults  and  depredations  of  a 
single  ship-of-war.  On  all  sides  were  treacherous  neighbors. 
He  remembered  to  have  heard  a  gentleman  say,  in  the  debate 
upon  another  question,  that  Poland  was  cut  up  out  of  pity  for 
her  people.  Who  knew  how  long  it  would  be  ere  Massachu 
setts,  Rhode  Island,  and  New  York  would  join,  and  in  the  ex 
cess  of  their  love  part  out  Connecticut  among  them  ?  What 
security  had  she  against  the  turbulent  spirit  of  the  one,  the 
selfishness  of  the  other,  and  the  righteousness  of  the  third. 
How  long  would  it  be  before  the  rights  of  these  States  began 
to  clash  ?  In  twenty  years,  nay,  in  ten,  Massachusetts  would 
awake  to  the  fact  that  she  had  the  sole  right  to  the  fisheries  on 
her  coast.  Connecticut  fishermen  would  be  driven  from  Nan- 
tucket  shoals.  Complaints  would  come  in  to  the  Assembly, 


396    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

would  be  sent  on  to  Congress,  and  a  recommendation  made  by 
that  body  to  Massachusetts  to  give  indemnity  for  the  outrage 
and  the  loss.  Did  any  one  for  a  moment  suppose  she  would 
do  it  ?  Alas,  poor  fool !  Massachusetts  would  write  a  long 
letter  of  justification  to  Congress,  and  close  it  with  a  reminder 
of  the  old  continental  money  and  the  renowned  expedition  to 
Penobscot  bay.  Some  might  say  these  fears  were  visionary, 
and  that  his  sentiments  on  government  came  from  a  military 
way  of  thinking,  or  the  baneful  influence  of  the  Cincinnati. 
Yet  he  would  always  speak  the  dictates  of  duty  and  of  truth, 
and  declare  himself  for  the  convention,  the  impost,  and  an 
efficient  General  Government. 

When  he  had  sat  down  Mr.  Granger  got  up  and  spoke 
against  the  measure.  He  feared  it  would  displease  his  con 
stituents.  He  thought  it  would  endanger  the  liberties  of  the 
people.  Congress  had  power  enough,  and  if  the  convention 
was  held,  it  would  likely  bring  about  a  kingly  government. 

On  the  same  side  was  Mr.  Perkins.  The  State,  he  was  sure, 
would  send  to  Philadelphia  men  who  had  been  tenderly  bred, 
were  in  easy  circumstances,  and  who  could  not  therefore  feel 
for  the  people  in  their  day  of  distress.  "  If,"  said  he,  "  we 
send,  we  shall  be  under  the  double  obligation  to  adopt  what  the 
convention  shall  recommend ;  for  if  we  say  A,  we  must  say  B 
also." 

Mr.  Humphrey  approved  of  the  conduct  of  Rhode  Island 
in  refusing  to  choose  delegates,  and  called  upon  Connecticut 
to  follow  her.  Colonel  Seymour  denounced  the  behavior  of 
Rhode  Island,  and  said  that  by  her  iniquity  she  had  become 
the  reproach  and  scorn  of  her  neighbors.  Colonel  Wadsworth 
hoped  the  House  would  never  copy  Rhode  Island  in  any  of 
her  acts  of  legislation.  She  had  forfeited  all  claims  to  the 
confidence  of  the  country  and  the  whole  world.  Her  acts 
were  a  disgrace  to  the  human  race.  Things  were  come  to  a 
fine  pass  when  men  went  about  declaring  that  there  was  no 
power  in  the  Federal  Government,  and  that  it  would  be  better 
to  go  back  to  Great  Britain.  He  saw  in  the  Assembly  at  least 
one  man  who  wished  America  had  been  conquered  at  any  pe 
riod  of  the  war.  He  was  told  that  men  would  be  sent  who 
were  delicately  bred,  and  knew  nothing  of  the  sufferings  of 


1787.  CONNECTICUT  CHOOSES  DELEGATES.  397 

the  mass.  Was  the  Assembly  a  pack  of  fools?  Was  it  so 
stupid  as  to  send  men  ignorant  of  the  state  of  things  ?  Had 
this  been  the  custom  of  the  past  ?  If  so,  let  the  House  emerge 
from  its  stupidity  and  select  men  who  lived  in  the  country, 
had  been  hardly  bred,  and  knew  what  the  people  wanted.  No 
State  had  stronger  reasons  to  call  for  a  change  in  the  Articles 
of  Confederation  than  Connecticut.  She  imported  heavily. 
The  taxes  on  her  importations  footed  up  to  one  hundred  thou 
sand  dollars  a  year.  Every  shilling  of  this  went  to  her  neigh 
bors.  Let  this  go  on  and  the  State  would  be  ruined.  Captain 
Granger  had  said  they  should  all  become  asses.  He  would 
liken  Connecticut  to  a  strong  ass  crouching  down,  not  under 
two,  but  under  twenty  burdens  that  would  finally  crush  the 
life  out  of  her. 

At  this  point  Mr.  Fitch  found  fault  with  the  members  for 
abusing  Rhode  Island.  To  this  Colonel  Wadsworth  stoutly 
replied  that  so  long  as  laws  were  passed  founded  on  injustice, 
he  should  claim  and  take  the  liberty  to  say  just  what  he  pleased 
about  them. 

Colonel  Seymour  supported  the  measure.  He  was  for  hav 
ing  delegates.  He  was  happy  that  a  motion  for  a  general  con 
vention  had  come  from  so  respectable  a  quarter  as  Virginia. 
Affairs  had  reached  an  alarming  crisis.  Vermont  was  bal 
ancing;  between  Canada  and  the  United  States.  The  settle- 

o 

ments  on  the  Ohio  were  draining  the  eastern  States.  New 
York  was  joined  to  her  selfish  interests  and  become  unfederal. 
Massachusetts  was  in  disorder.  Rhode  Island  was  a  reproach. 
It  was  indeed  a  sad  picture.  But  he  flattered  himself  that  the 
convention  would  find  a  balm  for  all  the  wounds,  and  give 
strength  to  the  Federal  Government. 

Several  other  gentlemen  spoke.  The  question  of  sending 
delegates  to  Philadelphia  was  then  put,  and  carried  in  the 
affirmative.* 

In  the  middle  States  a  better  temper  prevailed.  New 
Jersey  and  Pennsylvania  had  already  given  a  warm  support 
to  the  action  of  the  Annapolis  Convention.  Delaware  was 


*  See  Proceedings  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut.  American  Mu 
seum,  October,  1787,  pp.  395-399.  For  some  arguments  in  support  of  the  con 
vention,  see  Goodrich's  Connecticut  Election  Sermon,  preached  in  May,  1787. 


398     THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.    CHAP.  iv. 

soon  to  follow.  New  York  alone  held  back.  The  session  of 
her  Legislature  had  opened  with  the  year,  and  it  soon  took  up 
the  impost.  Clinton  brought  forward  the  urgent  appeal  of 
Congress,  now  addressed  to  them  alone,  with  the  curt  remark 
that  it  was  a  subject  that  had  been  repeatedly  before  them,  and 
must  be  well  understood.  An  angry  and  protracted  discussion 
followed.  Hamilton  led  the  defence,  and  toiled  hard  to  secure 
a  few  yeas ;  but  when  a  vote  was  reached,  the  impost  was  again 
thrown  out  by  a  majority  of  fifteen.*  It  was  now  the  fifteenth 
of  February,  and  the  Federal  Convention  was  to  meet,  if  in 
deed  it  met  at  all,  in  three  months'  time.  Yet  Congress  had 
done  nothing  but  listen  to  the  reports  of  committees  and  grand 
committees  declaring  that  the  proposed  convention  was  a 
good  thing.  Some  of  the  States  had  made  use  of  this  trifling 
conduct  to  excuse  their  own  delay.  They  affected  to  have 
grave  scruples  about  the  propriety  of  acting  on  the  report  till 
Congress  had  formally  approved  it.  To  appoint  delegates,  it 
was  argued,  before  Congress  had  time  to  consider  the  paper, 
was,  to  say  the  least,  to  exhibit  indecent  haste.  To  name 
commissioners,  and  then  have  Congress  refuse  to  make  the 
recommendations  suggested  by  the  gentlemen  at  Annapolis, 
would  be  to  add  another  insult  to  the  already  long  list,  and  to 
strike  another  blow  at  the  life  of  'the  Union.  The  present 
was  no  time  for  the  States  to  hold  a  controversy  with  the  Na 
tional  Legislature. 

There  were  not  wanting  many  clear-headed  ones  to  assert 
that  such  reasoning  was  specious,  arid  merely  a  cloak  for  deep- 
laid  schemes  to  break  up  the  Confederation.  Among  them  was 
Hamilton.  He  had  drawn  up  the  report,  was  greatly  interested 
in  its  success,  and  determined  that  nothing  should  be  left  un 
done  in  its  behalf.  Accordingly,  two  days  after  the  impost 
had  been  voted  down,  he  moved  in  the  Assembly  that  the  New 
York  delegates  in  Congress  should  be  instructed  to  bring  in  a 
resolution  recommending  the  States  to  send  commissioners  to 
Philadelphia.  The  motion  passed  the  Lower  House,  and  after 
a  short  struggle  was  carried  in  the  Senate  by  one  vote.f  It 

*  Journals  New  York  Assembly,  February  15,  1787.     The  vote  was  thirty  six 
Ayes  to  twenty-one  Nays. 

f  Journals,  February  17,  1787. 


1787.  FEDERAL  CONVENTION"  APPROVED  BY  CONGRESS.  399 

was  not  a  moment  too  soon,  for  Congress  had  set  apart  the 
twenty-first  of  the  month  as  the  day  on  which  to  take  up  the 
report  of  their  grand  committee  on  the  communication  from 
Annapolis.  When,  therefore,  the  time  came,  and  the  clerk  an 
nounced  the  order  for  the  day,  one  of  the  'New  York  delega 
tion  rose  in  his  place  and  moved  the  House  to  postpone  in 
order  to  substitute  the  resolution  of  his  State.*  The  substance 
of  this  was  that  a  convention  ought  to  be  held,  the  Articles  of 
Confederation  carefully  revised,  and  the  needed  amendments 
reported  to  Congress  and  the  States.  A  lively  debate  fol 
lowed.  So  sudden  and  unexpected  a  display  of  Federal  spirit  f 
by  a  State  which  had  but  six  days  before  rejected  the  impost, 
and  perhaps  destroyed  the  Union,  excited  general  alarm.  A 
few  saw  in  the  language  of  the  instructions  not  a  wish  to  ac 
cede  to  the  convention  proposed,  but  an  attempt  to  secure  a 
new  one  under  the  sanction  of  Congress.  Others  suspected 
New  York  of  seeking  to  divide  the  plans  of  the  States,  and 
so  frustrating  them  all.  The  motion  to  postpone,  therefore, 
passed  in  the  negative.  Eleven  States  were  present.  Eight 
voted  against  it. 

No  sooner  was  this  disposed  of  than  Dane,  of  Massachusetts, 
came  forward  with  a  very  similar  motion.  But  lie  was  well 
known  to  be,  of  all  men  there  present,  the  most  bitter  and  acri 
monious  Antif ederalist.  He  utterly  disapproved  of  the  conven 
tion,  and  had  been  at  much  pains  to  dissuade  his  State  from 
coming  into  it.  His  proposition  was  thought  to  be  open  to  the 
same  objections  as  that  from  New  York,  and  voted  down.  It 
was  then  agreed  by  all,  except  Connecticut,  that  the  resolution 
should  pass  as  it  stood  upon  the  journals.  This  sanctioned  the 
proceedings  and  appointments  already  made  by  a  few  States, 
and  advised  the  others  to  do  the  same. 

The  removal  of  what  so  many  had  been  pleased  to  consider 
the  only  hindrance  to  the  Philadelphia  meeting  produced  a 
general  sense  of  relief.  All  who  possessed  estates,  who  were 
engaged  in  traffic,  or  held  any  of  the  final  settlements  and  de 
preciation  certificates,  felt  safe.  Another  chance  was  offered 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  February  21,  1787. 

f  See  some  extracts  from  Madison's  Diary  of  Proceedings  in  Congress,  given 
in  Rives's  Life  and  Times  of  Madison,  vol.  ii,  pp.  182-184. 


400    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.    CHAP.  iv. 

them  to  mend  the  evils  they  had  so  long  complained  of.  It 
was  perhaps  the  last  chance.  But  this  added  not  a  little  to 
their  hopes,  for  they  were  sure  that,  knowing  this,  their  dele 
gates  would  never  suffer  the  opportunity  to  be  thrown  away. 
The  multitude,  however,  were  indifferent.  That  great  mass  of 
the  community  whose  lot  it  was  to  eat  bread  in  the  sweat  of 
the  face  thought  it  a  matter  of  no  importance  whether  there 
was  one  republic  or  three,  whether  they  were  ruled  by  a  mon 
arch  or  governed  by  a  Senate.  So  long  as  the  crops  were 
good,  wages  high,  and  food  cheap,  the  sum  of  their  happiness 
was  likely  to  be  much  the  same  under  the  one  form  of  govern 
ment  as  under  the  other.  Whether  the  Dutch  got  the  interest 
on  their  loan,  whether  the  treaty  was  made  with  Spain,  their 
sleep  would  be  none  the  heavier  and  their  burdens  not  more 
light.  Their  wages  had  indeed  never  been  so  high.  But 
while  they  had  no  cause  to  grumble  over  the  returns  of  their 
toil,  they  had  much  reason  to  complain  of  the  trash  in  which 
those  returns  were  made. 

For  years  past  counterfeiters  and  clippers  had  been  busy 
with  the  coin,  till  a  good  half -penny  or  a  full-weight  pistareen 
could  seldom  be  found  in  the  States.  Scarce  a  month  went 
by  but  the  Gazettes  and  Journals  all  over  the  country  warned 
their  readers  to  be  on  their  guard  against  French  sous  that 
looked  like  moidores,*  and  to  take  no  French  guineas  till  they 
had  carefully  examined  the  hair  on  the  King's  head.f  There 
were  bad  dollars  that  bore  date  1782,  and  could  only  be  distin 
guished  from  the  good  by  the  ugly  nostril  and  the  long  face ;  :f 
and  false  English  guineas  of  1764,  that  could  be  told  from 
the  true  by  the  downcast  eye  and  the  raised  brow.*  But  the 
copper  coinage  was  in  a  worse  state  still,  for  it  had  become  a 
lucrative  trade  to  manufacture  abroad  great  quantities  of  base 
metal  in  imitation  of  pence  and  half-pence,  bring  them  to 
America,  change  them  into  joes  and  guineas,  and  send  the  gold 
to  England.  So  many  had  been  thrown  into  circulation  in 
Rhode  Island  that  the  Legislature  had  found  it  necessary  to 

*  Pennsylvania  Packet,  May,  13,  1784.     New  York  Packet,  May  10,  1784. 
f  New  York  Packet,  April  21,  1785. 

\  See  Pennsylvania  Packet,  April  27th,  May  13th,  and  June  1, 1784. 

*  New  York  Packet,  April  21,  1785. 


1787.         COPPERS  IN"  CIRCULATION  IN  NEW  YORK. 

impose  a  fine  of  six  shillings  for  every  piece  taken.*  Yet  they 
continued  to  pass  from  hand  to  hand,  and  numbers  of  them 
were  to  be  seen  in  the  taverns  and  coffee-houses  at  New  York. 
There  they  were  freely  taken,  for  almost  every  copper  in  the 
city  was  bad.  Shopkeepers  and  marketmen  complained  bitter 
ly.  The  "  rap  half -pence  "  current  were,  it  was  said,  a  reflec 
tion  on  the  police.  There  was  not  a  handful  of  genuine 
pennies  in  the  town,  and  every  British  ship  that  came  into  the 
port  added  to  the  quantity  of  bad  ones.f  Such  a  state  of 
things  must  end  in  serious  loss.  Indeed,  matters  became  so 
bad  that  the  Assembly  appointed  a  committee  to  examine  and 
report  on  the  copper  coins  passing  in  the  city.  The  report 
was  listened  to  on  the  third  of  March,  1787,  and  is  the  most 
valuable  and  interesting  document  of  the  session.^: 

The  committee  had,  it  should  seem,  been  ordered  to  bring 
in  a  bill  to  regulate  the  copper  coin  of  the  State.  But  they 
were  at  a  loss  to  know  the  extent  of  the  intended  regulation ; 
whether  it  was  to  apply  to  the  coin  then  in  use,  or  to  a  new 
issue  in  the  near  future.  They  had  therefore,  among  other 
things,  ascertained  the  value  of  such  as  were  then  in  the  hands 
of  the  people.  There  were,  first,  a  few  genuine  British  half 
pence  of  George  II.'s  time,  and  some  of  an  earlier  date ;  but 
they  were  greatly  worn,  and  the  impression  scarce  distin 
guishable.  Some  Irish  half -pence  were  also  in  circulation. 
They  had  a  bust  on  one  side  and  a  harp  on  the  other.  With 
these  exceptions,  almost  all  the  pieces  that  were  passing  about 
were  imitations  either  of  the  British  half -pence  or,  what  was 
worse,  of  the  Jersey  coppers.  The  counterfeits  of  the  English 
ha'pennies  were  much  lighter  than  the  true,  were  made  of  low- 
grade  copper,  were  badly  executed,  and  were  commonly  called 
Birmingham  coppers  ;  for  it  was  pretty  well  known  they  were 
manufactured  at  that  city  and  imported  in  casks  under  the 
name  of  hardware.*  As  for  the  other  false  coins,  a  great 

*  Pennsylvania  Packet,  July  14,  1785. 

f  New  Jersey  Gazette,  January  9,  1786. 

i  Journal  of  the  Assembly  of  New  York  for  1787,  p.  78. 

*  In  the  New  York  Daily  Advertiser  of  May  26,  1786,  is  some  information  on 
this  point  taken  from  an  English  paper.     "  The  piece  spoken  of,  bearing  the  in 
scription  '  Libertas  et  Justicia,'  etc.,  was  not  made  in  America,  nor  by  direction  of 
Congress.     It  was  coined  in  Birmingham,  by  order  of  a  merchant  in  New  York. 

VOL.  i. — 27 


402    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

many  of  them  had  lately  come  into  use,  but  were  so  far  below 
the  weight  of  the  Jersey  coppers  that  they  seemed  designed 
to  be  a  catchpenny  for  the  New  York  market. 

The  committee  then  went  on  to  estimate  the  loss  the 
State  suffered  from  spurious  coins.  The  very  best  red  copper 
in  sheets  could,  they  said,  be  purchased  at  any  factory  in  Eng 
land  for  elevenpence  sterling  a  pound.  To  bring  it  over  the 
water  would  cost  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  per  cent  more,  so 
that  the  price  would,  on  arrival  in  America,  be  about  two  shil 
lings  of  New  York  currency.  But  old  copper  kettles  and  pans 
could  be  melted  down  into  ingots,  and  made  into  blanks,  as  the 
pieces  were  called  before  milling  and  stamping,  for  at  least 
twenty  per  cent  less.  Of  the  genuine  British  half -pence,  forty- 
eight  made  a  pound  avoirdupois.  But  of  the  Birmingham  cop 
pers  then  passing  current,  sixty  went  to  the  pound.  The  true 
Jersey  coppers  weighed  each  six  pennyweights  six  grains,  which 
gave  forty-six  and  two  fifths  to  the  pound.  All  of  these 
passed  by  common  consent  at  fourteen  to  the  shilling,  which 
gave  a  very  handsome  profit  to  the  coiners.  By  a  careful  cal 
culation  the  committee  found  the  profit  to  be  fifty-seven  per 
cent  for  the  British  half-pence,  ninety-six  per  cent  for  the  Bir 
mingham  pieces,  and  fifty-four  per  cent  for  the  Jersey  coppers. 

This  condition  of  the  small  change  was  indeed  most  alarm 
ing.  Yet  it  was  the  same  everywhere.  In  New  Jersey,  an  act 
of  January,  1786,  provided  that  fifteen  coppers  should  make  a 
shilling ;  but,  long  before  the  first  of  August  was  come,  twenty, 
and  even  thirty,  were  demanded  and  paid  to  the  shilling.* 
In  Virginia,  pence  and  half -pence  had  entirely  disappeared. 
Meanwhile,  the  New  England  States  were  being  flooded  with 
great  sums  of  base  money  f  from  England,  and  there  seemed 
good  reason  to  think  more  was  yet  to  come.  Upon  one  occa 
sion  Adams  wrote  that  for  some  time  past  there  had  been  in 
circulation  in  London  several  hundreds  of  thousands  of  pounds 
of  bad  coppers ;  that  upon  a  sudden  every  one  had  refused  to 


Many  tons  were  struck  from  this  die,  and  many  from  another ;  they  are  now  in 
circulation  in  America  as  counterfeit  half-pence  are  in  England."  From  the  same 
town  came  Birmingham  dollars.  For  a  description  of  some  at  Beverly,  see  Boston 
Gazette,  April  29,  1793. 

*  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  August  8,  1786. 

f  See  Plymouth  Journal,  January  10,  1786. 


1786.  COINAGE   ACTS   OF  CONGRESS.  403 

take  them,  and  that  he  feared  this  was  but  part  of  a  deeply  laid 
plan  to  buy  them  up  for  a  trifle  and  ship  them  to  America, 
where  they  would  pass  as  genuine.*  Twelve  days  later  he  again 
sent  word  that  he  had  broken  up  a  nest  of  counterfeiters  who 
were  busy  imitating  the  paper  money  of  the  southern  States,  f 
Toward  correcting  these  abuses  Congress  had  made  several 
efforts.  In  the  summer  of  1785  two  copper  coins  were  ordered 
to  be  struck,  one  called  a  half-penny,  of  which  two  hundred 
were  to  make  a  dollar,  and  one  to  be  called  a  penny.  J  But 
they  had  never  come  out.  A  year  later  an  ordinance  was 
passed  providing  for  an  entire  national  currency.4*  The  deci 
mal  system  of  multiplication  was  adopted.  The  mill  was  to 
be  the  lowest  money  of  account,  and  eight  coins  were  to  be 
put  out  in  three  metals.  Cents  and  half -cents  were  to  be  of 
copper ;  dimes,  double  dimes,  half-dollars,  and  dollars,  of  sil 
ver;  half -eagles  and  eagles  of  gold.  Three  hundred  and 
seventy-five  grains  of  pure  silver  were  to  be  contained  in  a 
dollar.  A  little  over  two  hundred  and  forty-six  and  a  quarter 
grains  of  gold  were  to  be  in  every  eagle.  Matters,  however, 
did  not  improve,  and  when,  two  months  later,  the  bill  for  the 
establishment  of  a  mint  was  passed,  a  last  attempt  was  made 
to  destroy  the  evil.  The  quantity  of  base  coin,  it  was  stated 
in  the  bill,  daily  imported  and  manufactured  in  the  States 
was  so  great,  and  the  injury  done  to  trade  and  commerce  so 
severe,  that  the  time  had  come  for  the  immediate  interposition 
of  the  power  vested  in  Congress  by  the  Articles  of  Confedera 
tion.  It  was  therefore  ordered  that,  after  the  first  day  of  Sep 
tember,  1787,  all  foreign  coppers  should  cease  to  pass  current 
in  the  United  States.  ||  Yet  this  came  to  naught.  A  contract 
with  one  Jarvis A  for  copper  coins  was,  it  is  true,  drawn  up, 
signed,  and  a  few  of  the  pennies  struck.  Q  But,  long  after  the 

*  Diplomatic  Correspondence  of  the  Revolution.  Adams  to  Jay,  April  10,  1787. 
f  Ibid.     Adams  to  Jay,  April  22,  1787.      $  Journals  of  Congress,  July  6,  1785. 

*  Ibid.,  August  6,  1786.  |  Ibid.,  October  16,  1786. 

A  In  a  newspaper  of  the  time  the  fact  is  noted  that  Mr.  Jarvis,  who  had  con 
tracted  to  supply  the  United  States  with  copper  coin,  had  sailed  for  Amsterdam. 
New  York  Daily  Advertiser,  November  12,  1787.  Sec,  also,  Columbian  Magazine 
for  April,  1788,  p.  200. 

Q  The  copper  of  1787,  commonly  called  the  Franklin  penny,  had  upon  the  face 
of  it  a  sun  rising  above  a  dial;  around  this  the  word  "Fugio"  and  the  date  1787. 


4:04    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

first  of  September  had  come  and  gone,  English  pence  and 
half-pence  were  to  be  found  in  the  till  of  every  tavern,  and 
were  taken  at  the  counter  of  every  store.  'Nor  did  the  first 
cent  issued  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States  appear 
till  1792  was  far  advanced.* 

But  the  citizens  of  New  York,  ere  the  summer  was  over, 
had  other  things  to  lament  besides  the  state  of  the  coin.  The 
Legislature,  in  an  evil  hour,  passed  an  act  aimed  full  against 
the  commerce  of  Connecticut  and  New  Jersey.  To  supply 
the  great  city  with  firewood,  vegetables,  and  fowls  had  long 
been  a  source  of  income  to  her  neighbors,  and  a  brisk  trade 
had  grown  up.  Early  on  the  morning  of  every  market-day 
the  broad  sheet  of  water  that  separated  Paulus  Hook  from  the 
city  was  dotted  with  shallops  loaded  to  the  water's  edge  with 
butter  and  cheese,  turnips  and  carrots,  with,  in  fine,  all  those 
varieties  of  vegetables  and  fruit  for  which  the  Dutch  farms  of 
New  Jersey  were  even  then  famous.  Every  week  there  drew 
up  at  the  docks  vessels  from  Connecticut  bringing  hundreds 
of  cords  of  the  best  firewood  the  market  could  supply.  To 
such  proportions  had  the  business  grown  that  it  was  commonly 
believed  that  several  thousand  pounds  sterling  were  in  this 
way  drawn  out  of  the  city  by  the  Jerseymen  and  Yankees. 
This  trade  the  Assembly  determined  to  crush,  and  framed  and 
passed  an  act  the  consequences  of  which  were  not  foreseen. 

Underneath  was  the  curt  advice,  "  Mind  Your  Business."  On  the  reverse  was  an 
endless  chain  of  thirteen  circular  links;  in  the  centre,  "We  Are  One,"  and 
around  this,  "  United  States." 

*  The  act  creating  the  United  States  Mint  passed  April  2,  1792,  and  the  same 
year  three  pieces  were  struck,  the  Disme,  the  Half-Disme,  and  a  trial  Cent  with 
a  silver  centre.  But  the  first  regular  issue  of  money  was  the  copper  cent  of  1793. 
Of  this  there  are,  in  the  cabinets  of  collectors,  eleven  varieties.  Yet  none  seem 
to  have  given  satisfaction.  u  The  American  cent"  says  one  of  the  grumblers, 
"  does  not  answer  our  expectation.  The  chain  on  the  reverse  is  but  a  bad  omen 
for  liberty,  and  Liberty  herself  appears  to  be  in  a  fright.  May  she  not  cry  out,  in 
the  words  of  the  Apostle :  '  Alexander  the  coppersmith  has  done  me  much  harm  ; 
the  Lord  reward  him  according  to  his  works.'"  Boston  Argus,  March  26,  1793. 
The  Alexander  referred  to  was  Hamilton,  first  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  Since 
1793  the  cent  has,  with  the  exception  of  1815,  been  issued  each  year,  and  is  the 
only  one  of  our  coins  that  furnishes  so  unbroken  a  succession.  A  very  exact  and 
interesting  description  of  United  States  coppers  from  1793  to  1857,  when  the 
nickels  began  to  be  coined,  may  be  seen  in  the  Boston  Transcript  of  March  1, 
1859.  S«e,  also,  for  the  same,  the  Historical  Magazine,  May,  1859,  p.  338. 


1787.  THE  NEW  YORK  CUSTOMS   ACT.  405 

Every  wood-boat,  every  shallop,  every  small  sloop  from  New 
Jersey  of  more  than  twelve  tons  burden,  it  was  decreed,  should 
henceforth  be  entered  and  cleared  at  the  Custom-House  in  the 
same  manner  as  packets  that  came  from  London  or  any  other 
foreign  port.  The  moment  the  law  went  into  operation  the 
boatmen  plying  between  ~New  York  and  the  northern  shore  of 
New  Jersey  cried  out  that  they  were  ruined  men  ;  that  almost 
the  whole  of  their  small  profit  was  taken  from  them  and  put 
into  the  hard,  griping  hands  of  the  officers  of  the  customs  at 
New  York.  To  retaliate  by  raising  the  price  demanded  for 
their  produce  was  impossible,  for  the  increase  would  be  so 
great  that  half  the  consumers  would  cease  to  buy. 

The  Legislature  at  Trenton  heard  their  cry,  and  resolved 
to  be  signally  revenged.  The  corporation  of  the  hated  city 
was  the  owner  of  four  acres  of  land  on  Sandy  Hook,  in  the 
State  of  New  Jersey.  The  plot  had  been  purchased  from  the 
original  proprietor  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  upon  it  a 
light-house,  a  public  inn,  and  a  kitchen-garden.  The  light 
house  was  already  built,  and  on  this  was  now  laid  a  tax  of 
thirty  pounds  a  month.* 

The  restrictions  placed  on  boats  from  Connecticut  were 
much  the  same  as  on  those  from  across  the  Hudson.  The  rate 
of  dockage  was  raised,  small  sloops  forced  to  pay  an  entrance- 
fee,  and  the  carting  of  firewood  across  the  city  heavily  taxed. 
No  notice,  was  taken  by  the  Connecticut  Assembly.  But  the 
business  men  at  New  London,  whence  most  of  the  boats  went 
out,  were  greatly  incensed.  It  seemed,  they  declared,  as  if 
the  time  was  at  hand  when,  between  the  British  Navigation 
Act,  the  lack  of  commercial  treaties  with  continental  powers, 
the  Barbary  xebecs,  and  the  selfish  policy  of  New  York,  there 
would  not  be  a  port  on  the  face  of  the  earth  where  an  Ameri 
can  vessel  could  trade.  But  they  would  see  what  could'  be 
done.  They  would  strike  back  with  all  the  power  at  their 
command,  and  flattered  themselves  they  could  make  the  blow 
felt.  A  league  was  formed,  and  a  paper  passed  about,  which 
bound  all  who  signed  it,  under  penalty  of  fifty  pounds  to  be 
collected  by  a  civil  process  in  any  court  of  law,  not  to  send 
into  the  State  of  New  York  any  article  whatever,  nor  to  fur- 

*  See  a  letter  from  Brunswick,  iu  American  Museum,  December,  1787,  p.  601. 


406    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

nish  any  craft  bound  for  that  State  with  any  kind  of  lading 
for  one  year  from  the  twentieth  of  July,  1787.*  The  agree 
ment  was  faithfully  kept.  Yet  little  came  of  it.  The  supplies 
withheld  by  the  New  London  merchants  were  obtained  else 
where,  and,  before  the  year  specified  in  the  agreement  had 
passed,  ten  States  had  ratified  the  Constitution,  and  the  power 
of  New  York  to  tax  her  neighbors  was  taken  away  for  ever. 

The  Barbary  States  were,  however,  in  a  much  kindlier 
mood  than  was  represented.  A  treaty  with  them  had  been 
under  discussion  for  two  years.  But  nothing  could  be  done 
without  money,  and  as  no  money  was  to  be  had,  the  subject 
had  not  been  formally  broached.  At  last,  after  much  pinching 
and  screwing,  enough  was  scraped  together  to  justify  the  com 
missioners  in  making  an  attempt,  and  two  gentlemen,  named 
Thomas  Barclay  and  John  Lamb,  were  selected,  provided  with 
presents,  and  dispatched  to  Africa. 

The  two  set  off  early  in  February,  1786.  But  scarce  were 
they  out  of  England  when  a  Tripoline  ambassador  appeared  in 
London.  He  refused  to  speak  with  the  ministers  of  the  Crown, 
and  insisted  on  an  audience  of  the  King.  Adams  was  much 
alarmed.  His  Majesty  declared  that  nothing  of  moment  took 
place,  and  that  what  the  fellow  really  wanted  was  a  present  and 
his  expenses  paid  to  Vienna  and  Denmark.  Yet  the  American 
minister  felt  that  the  coming  of  the  ambassador  had  some  bear 
ing  on  the  affairs  of  the  United  States,  and  that  there  were  not 
wanting  in  London  many  men  who  would  gladly  stir  up  the 
African  to  persuade  his  countrymen  to  wage  war  on  American 
ships.  He  had  therefore  thought  it  best  to  shun  him.  But 
when  he  learned  that  all  other  foreign  ministers  had  made 
their  respects,  and  that  a  longer  delay  would  be  taken  as  an 
affront,  he  changed  his  mind,  made  his  call,  and  was  much  sur 
prised  to  find  his  Excellency  at  home ;  for  he  had  purposely 
selected  a  late  hour  of  the  evening.  He  was,  however,  admitted, 
when  a  most  ludicrous  conference  followed.  Each  indeed  con 
ducted  himself  like  a  man  of  sense  and  temper.  But  the  Chris 
tian  knew  not  a  word  of  Arabic,  and  the  Mussulman  knew  but 
a  few  of  English.  They  spoke,  therefore,  in  a  strange  jumble 
of  Italian,  of  Lingua  Franca,  of  bad  French  and  worse  English. 

*  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  June  27,  1787. 


1786.     MR.  ADAMS  AND  THE  TRIPOLINE  AMBASSADOR.     407 

The  ceremonies  were  such,  Mr.  Adams  wrote,  that  a  descrip 
tion  of  them  might  fittingly  be  sent  to  Harlequin  for  the  amuse 
ment  of  the  gay  at  the  New  York  theatre,  but  not  to  so  grave 
and  dignified  a  body  as  Congress.  Many  questions  were  asked 
concerning  America.  How  hot  the  summers  were,  and  how 
cold  the  winters.  Whether  the  soil  was  rich  or  poor ;  whether 
the  climate  was  wet  or  dry.  This  over,  his  Excellency  observed 
that  it  w^as  a  very  great  country,  but  Tripoli  was  at  war  with  it. 
How,  Adams  asked,  could  there  be  war  between  the  two  na 
tions?  There  had  been  no  hostility,  no  injujy,  no  insult,  no 
provocation  of  any  kind  on  either  side.  This  he  owned  was 
true,  but  answered  that  Turkey,  Tripoli,  Tunis,  Algiers,  and 
Morocco  were  the  rulers  of  the  Mediterranean ;  that  no  people 
could  send  ships  to  traffic  in  that  sea  till  they  had  made  peace 
with  the  rulers ;  that  the  Americans  must  make  treaties,  and 
that  the  order  to  be  observed  in  making  them  was  Tripoli, 
Turkey,  Algiers,  and  Morocco.  With  this  they  parted,  agree 
ing  that  a  further  conference  should  be  held  at  an  early  day. 

Before  a  week  had  gone  the  Tripolitan  came  with  great 
ceremony  to  return  the  call  of  Mr.  Adams.  With  him  was  an 
English  Jew  named  Benamor,  a  decent  man,  and  very  ready  in 
the  English,  the  Arabic,  and  Italian  tongues.  He  would,  his 
Excellency  said,  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  court  interpreter. 
He  could  not  trust  him,  for  he  had,  since  his  arrival,  found 
much  ill-will  toward  the  United  States,  and  a  general  desire  to 
prevent  him  from  seeing  the  American  minister.  He  had 
therefore  brought  his  own  interpreter.  He  then  went  on,  with 
the  help  of  Benamor,  to  say  that  it  was  the  delight  of  his  soul, 
it  was  the  whole  pleasure  of  his  life,  to  do  ffood.  He  was  zeal- 

i  o 

ous  to  embrace  every  chance  to  do  good,  and  he  now  saw  an 
opportunity  to  do  a  great  deal.  The  time  was  critical.  Peace 
could  not  be  made  too  soon.  Were  a  treaty  to  be  put  off  an 
other  year,  it  would  be  very  hard  to  bring  it  about  at  all.  By 
that  time  the  Algerines  would  have  taken  many  prizes,  would 
be  very  greedy  for  more  and  very  difficult  to  move.  Then  he 
spoke  of  the  horrors  of  a  Barbary  war.  A  war  between  Chris 
tians  and  Christians  was  mild.  ~No  inhuman  actions  were 
indulged  in,  no  cruelty  was  practised  ;  prisoners  were  kindly 
treated  and  readily  exchanged.  But  a  war  between  Turks  and 


408    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.  CHAP.  iv. 

Christians  was  terrible.  Prisoners  were  sold  into  slavery.  He 
was  himself  a  Mussulman.  Yet  he  must  say  he  thought  it  a 
hard  law.  As  he  could  not  alter  it,  he  wished  to  soften  it.  He 
was  never  happier  than  when  doing  good.  Of  all  the  Barbary 
States,  Algiers  was  the  most  troublesome  to  treat  with.  They 
were  always  eager  for  prizes,  and  now  had  more  ships,  and 
larger,  than  ever  before.  Were  an  overture  for  peace  made  to 
Algiers,  she  would  instantly  reject  it.  Were  a  treaty  first  made 
with  Tripoli,  the  Algerines  would  instantly  give  way.  Tripoli, 
and  Tripoli  alone,  could  effect  this.  Threats  and  menaces  were 
powerless.  No  people  had  a  greater  armament  than  Spain. 
Yet  when  Spain  came  with  offers '  of  peace,  Algiers  spurned 
them,  and  was  upon  the  point  of  waging  a  fierce  war  when 
Tripoli  interfered,  and  a  firm  peace  was  concluded.  Adams 
here  broke  in  and  told  him  that  friendly  assurances  had  come 
from  Morocco,  and  that  agents  had  been  dispatched  to  treat 
with  her.  He  was  delighted,  he  was  overjoyed  to  hear  it. 
He  was  sure  success  would  come  of  it.  As  for  Algiers,  he 
could  promise  nothing.  But  he  would  undertake  to  answer 
for  Tripoli  and  Tunis.  He  would  write,  he  would  send  his 
secretary,  nay,  go  himself,  and  that  was  saying  more  than  he 
had  ever  said  to  any  minister  in  Europe.  Then  he  took  a 
great  oath,  that  oath  which  to  a  Moslem  is  the  most  awful  and 
solemn  of  all  oaths,  called  upon  the  name  of  Allah,  and  swore 
by  his  beard  that  his  only  motive  in  striving  for  a  peace  was 
the  love  of  doing  good.  When  the  African  went  away  he  left 
Adams  sorely  puzzled.  "  He  is,"  said  the  minister,  "  either  a 
consummate  politician  in  art  and  address,  or  he  is  a  benevolent 
and  wise  man."  * 

Other  interviews  followed.  The  price  of  peace  was  dis 
cussed,  and  the  cost  for  the  four  Barbary  powers  put  down  as 
not  far  from  two  hundred  thousand  pounds  sterling,  f  The 
sum  was  indeed  great,  but  if  anything  was  to  be  accomplished, 
fear  and  avarice  were,  Adams  declared,  the  only  agents  that 
could  do  it.  The  States  must  either  buy  the  Barbary  powers 
or  fight  them.  There  was  something  grand  in  the  thought  of 
fighting  them.  The  craven  policy  of  Christendom  had  made 

*  Letter  of  Adams  to  Jay,  February  20,  1786. 
f  Adams  to  Jay,  February  22,  1786. 


1786.     MR.  ADAMS  AND  THE  TRIPOLINE  AMBASSADOR.     409 

cowards  of  the  sailors  of  Europe  before  the  standard  of  Ma 
homet.  It  would  indeed  be  heroical  and  glorious  for  the  peo 
ple  of  the  New  World  to  break  up  that  nest  of  pirates,  drive 
their  cruisers  from  the  sea,  and  restore  courage  to  the  mariners 
of  the  Old.  But  it  would  be  hard  to  bring  the  States  to  think 
so.  *  The  cost  of  war,  too,  would  far  exceed  the  cost  of  peace ; 
and  when  it  w^as  happily  over,  many  and  costly  presents  would 
still  have  to  be  given.  Did  De  Massoc  carry  his  point  with 
out  gifts  ?  Had  not  France  made  presents  ever  since  ?  Did 
any  power  ever  at  any  time  conclude  peace  with  these  rovers 
without  doing  the  same  thing  ?  f  But  the  cost  of  doing  noth 
ing  was  incalculable.  Before  that  sum  was  known,  six  per 
cent  insurance  on  all  imports  and  exports,  the  ransom  of  many 
captives,  and  long  columns  of  figures  expressing  the  loss  of 
trade  in  the  Levant,  and  half  the  trade  with  Portugal  and 
Spain,  would  have  to  be  footed  up.  Something  must  be  done 
at  any  cost.  It  was  intolerable  to  be  so  indifferent.  His  in 
dignation  was  roused  beyond  all  patience  to  see  his  country 
men  in  a  torpor  while  every  robber,  pirate,  cheat  in  Europe 
preyed  upon  them.  Even  at  that  very  moment  Jews  and 
Judaizing  Christians  were  plotting  to  buy  up  the  continental 
paper  at  two  shillings  on  the  pound,  and  make  the  States 
redeem  it  at  twenty.  Let  this  be  done,  and  the  Jews  would 
gather  a  richer  plunder  than  would  ever  fall  to  the  Algerines 
or  the  coffee-house  of  Lloyd's.^ 

While  Adams  wTas  higgling  with  Tripoli  and  lamenting 
over  the  conduct  of  Algiers,  affairs  in  Morocco  began  to  wear 
a  more  hopeful  aspect.  Thomas  Barclay,  who  was  charged 
with  the  mission  to  that  State,  set  off  early  in  February,  went 
first  to  Spain,  and  thence  in  a  swift-sailing  vessel  to  Africa, 
John  Lamb,  who  was  to  treat  with  Algiers,  went  with  him.* 


*  Adams  to  Jefferson,  July  3,  1786.  f  Ibid.,  July  31,  1786. 

\  See  a  letter  from  Adams  to  Jefferson,  June  6,  1786.  In  the  account  of  the 
interviews  with  the  Tripoline  envoy  I  have  in  many  places  made  use  of  the  words 
of  Mr.  Adams. 

*  Lamb  sailed  from  Barcelona.     But  his  vessel  was  scarce  out  of  sight  when 
the  British  consul  at  Barcelona  informed  M.  Logie,  consul  at  Algiers,  that  the 
Spanish  papers  were  irregular,  that  Lamb  had  with  him  eighty  thousand  dollars, 
and  that  the  vessel  could  be  seized  by  the  Dey  as  an  American  bottom.    This  Logie 
instantly  communicated  to  the  Dey.     But  word  came  back  that  the  American 


410    THE  BREziKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

The  simple  and  unpretentious  manner  in  which  he  performed 
his  journey  aroused  some  apprehensions  for  his  success.  For 
it  was  then  the  custom  of  European  powers  when  treating  with 
the  Barbary  States  to  send  with  their  ministers  a  great  fleet  of 
ships  of  the  line,  to  enter  the  harbor  with  decks  cleared  for 
action,  and,  while  they  offered  peace,  make  threats  of  war. 
Some  therefore  expressed  a  fear  that  the  Emperor  and  the 
Dey  would  be  affronted  and  refuse  to  treat  with  an  agent  who 
came  in  a  merchant  ship,  landed  like  a  common  traveller,  and 
had  no  armed  force  to  support  his  demands.  They  were, 
however,  mistaken.  Barclay  was  well  received,  and,  while 
the  negotiation  dragged  slowly  on,  spent  much  of  his  time  in 
studying  the  habits,  customs,  religious  practices,  and  daily  oc 
cupations  of  the  Moors. 

In  truth,  the  letters  in  which  he  communicated  his  obser 
vations  to  those  who  sent  him  form  by  no  means  the  least 
valuable  and  interesting  part  of  the  state  papers  of  the  day. 
They  may  still  be  perused  with  profit  and  amusement ;  and 
were  at  that  time,  when  scarce  anything  was  known  of  the 
country,  most  eagerly  read.  The  Emperor  he  declared  to  be 
a  man  possessed  of  many  amiable  qualities,  and  in  learning 
greatly  above  the  average  of  his  subjects.  But  his  private 
life  was,  to  one  bred  up  in  the  decorous  notions  of  the  West, 
disgusting  and  loathsome.  In  his  palace  were  four  queens 
and  forty  women,  who,  though  never  married,  were  treated 
with  the  same  respect  and  honored  with  the  same  attentions 
as  if  they  were  his  lawful  wives.  In  his  seraglios  were  two 
hundred  and  forty-three  concubines,  attended  by  eight  hun 
dred  and  forty-six  women  and  an  army  of  eunuchs.  As  for 
his  subjects,  they  were  fierce,  lazy,  delighting  in  cruelty,  and 
avaricious  to  the  last  degree.  Fear  of  man  had  indeed  forced 
the  idle  Moors  to  bestir  themselves  and  defend  their  town 
with  heavy  fortifications.  Fear  of  God  had  made  them  put 
up  some  costly  and  beautiful  mosques.  But  they  had  done 
nothing  more.  Their  streets  were  despicable.  Their  houses 
were  a  sight  to  behold.  Nor  had  they,  though  an  eminently 

officers  had  been  allowed  to  land,  had  gone  away,  had  taken  the  money  with  them, 
and  that  the  consul  would  do  well  in  future  to  mind  his  own  affairs.  See  a  letter 
of  William  Carmichael  to  Jefferson,  July  15,  1786.  Diplomatic  Correspondence. 


1T86.  MR.  BARCLAY  AND  THE  EMPEROR  OF  MOROCCO. 

maritime  people,  any  dock-yards  worthy  of  the  name.  There 
was,  in  fact,  small  need  of  such.  For,  with  great  shrewdness, 
they  obtained  from  one  half  of  Christendom  ships  which  they 
forced  the  other  half  to  keep  in  good  repair.  Anchors,  rig 
ging,  barrels  of  tar,  coils  of  rope,  and  bales  of  canvas  were  con. 
stantly  coming  over  from  England,  Holland,  and  Sweden. 
The  greater  part  of  their  cruisers  had  been  built  out  of  prizes. 
Much  of  this  work  was  done  at  Gibraltar,  without  any  cost  to 
the  Emperor.  One  ship,  that  had  just  come  off  the  stocks  at 
that  place,  had  been  overhauled  by  the  British  Government  at 
a  cost  of  seven  thousand  pounds.  .But  there  were  in  the  navy 
other  vessels  which  had  been  obtained  ready  built  as  the  price 
of  peace.  Indeed,  his  Majesty  was  at  that  moment  impatient 
ly  awaiting  the  result  of  a  demand  on  Frederick  the  Great  for 
three  fully  armed  frigates. 

The  first  audience  of  the  Emperor  took  place  in  the  garden 
of  the  palace.  His  Majesty  was  on  horseback.  About  him 
were  a  thousand  attendants.  The  Americans  were  presented 
by  the  Pacha.  They  were  asked  what  kind  of  a  journey  they 
had,  whether  they  came  in  a  frigate,  how  America  lay  as  to 
Great  Britain,  and  why  it  separated ;  how  many  troops  were 
kept  up,  between  what  latitudes  it  lay,  and  if  there  grew  in 
its  forests  timber  fit  for  ships.  When  these  questions  had  all 
been  answered  to  his  satisfaction,  he  exclaimed,  "  Send  your 
ships  and  trade  with  us.  I  will  do  everything  you  can  >  de 
sire."  Then  he  looked  round  upon  his  people,  and  they  all 
cried  out  in  a  loud  voice,  "  Allah  preserve  the  life  of  our  Mas 
ter!" 

The  second  audience  was  likewise  in  the  garden.  As  Bar 
clay  came  toward  him,  bowing  and  bending  low,  the  Emperor 
cried  "Bona,  bona,"  and  began  to  complain  of  the  English. 
But  his  complaints  were  silenced  as  soon  as  the  gifts  were 
spread  before  him.  Among  them  were  an  atlas  and  a  watch. 
The  watch  he  examined  with  much  care,  for  it  was  an  alarm- 
watch,  and  the  first  he  had  ever  seen.  With  the  atlas  he  seemed 
familiar  ;  called  for  a  map  of  the  United  States,  took  a  pen 
and  wrote  down  off  the  coast  the  highest  latitudes  to  which  his 
cruisers  sailed.  It  was  a  rare  event  when  the  flag  of  Morocco 
was  seen  to  the  north  of  the  coast  of  Portugal,  or  much  to  the 


412    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

west  of  the  Canaries  and  the  Western  Isles.*  The  result  of 
Mr.  Barclay's  visit  was  that,  late  in  January,  1787,  Sidi  Hadge 
Ben  Abdelleck  Fennish  informed  the  American  minister  at 
London  that  his  master  had,  on  the  first  day  of  the  blessed 
month  Ramadan,  1200,  concluded  a  lasting  treaty  with  the 
United  States.  But  when  the  instrument  came  to  the  hands  of 
the  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs  he  was  again  greatly  occupied 
with  the  Spanish  treaty. 

Early  in  March  some  of  the  Virginia  delegation,  among 
whom  was  Madison,  held  an  interview  with  Gardoqui.  In  the 
course  of  conversation  the  Mississippi  trouble  was  broached 
and  fully  discussed.  The  shrewd  envoy,  well  knowing  that 
he  was  addressing  men  most  firmly  set  against  the  treaty, 
sought  to  move  them  first  by  fair  words  and  then  by  menaces. 
Spain,  such  was  his  argument,  would  not  for  a  moment  listen 
to  the  idea  of  opening  the  Mississippi.  To  be  debarred  the 
use  of  the  lower  part  of  the  river  was  undoubtedly  a  great 
hardship  to  the  United  States.  But  it  was  a  hardship  which 
Spain  herself  endured.  His  most  Christian  Majesty  was  ask 
ing  no  more  than  he  was  ready  to  give,  nay,  than  he  actually 
did  give.  If  the  free  use  of  the  Mississippi  waa  of  importance 
to  the  back  country,  so  was  the  navigation  of  the  Tagus  to 
Spain.f  But  the  Tagus  also  flowed  through  Portugal.  His 


*  See  the  letters  of  Thomas  Barclay,  written  during  September,  October,  and 
November,  1786,  in  Diplomatic  Correspondence. 

f  To  other  men  Gardoqui  held  other  language.  "  Mr.  Gardoqui  has  told  me 
confidentially  that  he  regards  that  navigation  as  a  matter  of  great  indifference  to 
his  Court ;  and  that,  whatever  may  be  the  pretensions  of  the  inhabitants  of  Ken 
tucky,  they  never  could  gain  great  advantages  from  their  expeditions  upon  the 
Mississippi.  ...  To  carry  on  a  profitable  trade  there  is  need  of  means  to  make 
return  voyages.  Every  one  knows  that  it  requires  several  months  to  ascend  the 
Mississippi  as  far  as  the  Ohio,  that  a  season  and  a  special  time  is  necessary  in 
order  not  to  run  aground,  and  that  the  profits  of  this  navigation  can  never  com 
pensate  for  its  dangers.  .  .  .  It  is  not  therefore  the  Mississippi  which  causes  us 
the  greatest  embarrassment,  but  it  is  the  incontestable  principle  of  reciprocity." 
Otto  to  Vergennes,  New  York,  December  20,  1785.  See  Bancroft's  History  of  the 
Constitution,  vol.  i,  p.  472.  Two  years  later  a  writer,  discussing  the  navigation  of 
the  same  river,  says  :  "  And  it  is  worthy  of  observation  that  in  all  probability  steam 
boats  will  be  found  to  do  infinite  service  in  all  our  extensive  river  navigation." 
Cutler's  pamphlet,  called  An  Explanation  of  the  Map  which  delineates  that  part 
of  the  Federal  Lands  comprised  between  Pennsylvania  West  Line,  the  River  Ohio, 
Scioto,  and  Lake  Erie.  Salem,  1787,  p.  10.  At  that  time  neither  Rumsey  nor 


1787.  THE  MISSISSIPPI.  413 

Majesty  had  therefore  never  thought  of  claiming  the  right  to 
send  his  ships  down  that  river  to  the  sea.  The  possession  of 
both  banks  at  the  mouth  of  a  river  settled  the  question  of 
ownership.  He  was  told  that,  in  estimating  the  rights  of  na 
tions  in  such  cases,  regard  must  be  paid  to  the  proportion  of 
territory  owned  by  each.  Suppose  Spain  had  but  five  acres  on 
each  bank  of  the  Mississippi ;  would  he  maintain  that  two  such 
garden-plots  gave  her  an  exclusive  right  to  the  waters  that  ran 
between  ?  But  that,  Gardoqui  said,  was  not  the  case ;  Spain 
controlled  a  great  proportion  of  the  territory.  "  How  much  ? " 
said  Madison.  After  a  moment's  thought  Gardoqui  answered, 
with  some  hesitancy  and  confusion,  that  she  claimed  to  the 
Ohio.  The  Yirginians  smiled.  He  was  then  asked,  if  her 
dominion  went  so  far  to  the  north,  how  far  it  extended  to  the 
east.  But  he  turned  the  question  off  by  insinuating  that  he 
had  already  discussed  that  matter  with  Jay,  lost  his  temper, 
lamented  that  he  had  been  in  the  country  so  long  and  accom 
plished  nothing,  and  declared  that  he  foresaw  very  disagree 
able  consequences.  One  of  the  delegates  asked  what  they 
were ;  but  he  again  parried  the  question,  and  muttered  some 
thing  about  Spain  making  her  own  terms  with  Great  Britain. 
He  was  sorry,  very  sorry  about  the  Virginia  instructions. 
They  would  prove  very  disastrous.  He  had  written  to  his 
master  to  soften  the  matter  as  much  as  possible ;  but  lie  was 
sure  troops  and  provisions  would  instantly  be  sent  to  New 
Orleans.  He  wished  he  might  not  be  a  true  prophet,  but 
America  would  see  she  had  mistaken  her  interest ;  Spain 
would  make  her  feel  the  vulnerable  side  of  her  commerce. 
Then  he  recovered  his  good-nature,  and  said,  jestingly,  that 
the  people  of  Kentucky  would  make  fine  Spanish  subjects. 
With  this  the  interview  ended.* 

A  week  later  the  action  of  Virginia  denouncing  Clark's 
seizure  of  Spanish  property  at  Vincennes  was  brought  him. 
At  the  same  time  he  was  reminded  of  the  bad  spirit  that  was 
becoming  manifest  in  the  West,  how  that  the  settlers  blamed 
the 'Government,  how  that  they  looked  with  no  friendly  eye 

Fitch  had  made  a  success  of  their  boats.     The  expression  of  such  an  opinion 
therefore  docs  great  credit  to  Cutler's  foresight. 
*  Madison's  Debates,  vol.  ii,  p.  594. 


4:14:    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

on  Spain,  how  they  threatened  to  go  over  to  Great  Britain, 
and  how  impossible  it  would  be  for  Congress  to  shut  the  Mis 
sissippi.  To  this  Gardoqui  replied  that  the  end  of  the  nego 
tiation  would  be  no  treaty  at  all ;  that  the  Spanish  trade  was 
most  valuable  to  the  country,  and  would  surely  be  lost.  He 
had,  he  protested,  long  seen  and  lamented  the  weakness  of  the 
Union.  ~No  one  wished  more  earnestly  than  he  did  to  see  it 
preserved  and  strengthened,  and  that  was  more  than  France 
or  any  other  power  did.  The  kindly  offices  of  Spain  to  Ameri 
ca  had  been  many  and  great.  This  was  not  denied.  But  he 
was  plainly  told  that  his  country  had  an  interest  in  the  inde 
pendence  of  the  colonies,  for  they  were  now  lost  to  a  power 
that  had  brought  down  the  pride  of  certain  princes,  had  given 
law  to  the  House  of  Bourbon,  and  had  in  times  past  made  his 
Catholic  Majesty  renounce  all  claim  to  the  sole  use  of  the  Mis 
sissippi.  The  taunt  was  a  bitter  yet  a  just  one,  for  the  lan 
guage  of  the  envoy  had  been  high  and  menacing.  With  this 
the  second  interview  closed ;  and  no  more  Avas  heard  of  the 
matter  till,  a  few  weeks  later,  it  came  up  in  Congress. 

On  the  eleventh  of  April  the  secretary  made  his  report  on 
the  state  of  the  negotiation  with  Spain.  The  day  following, 
the  twelfth  of  the  month,  he  submitted  his  report  on  the  pa 
pers  from  Virginia  and  North  Carolina.  Each  was  unsatisfac 
tory.  The  Articles  of  Confederation  set  forth  that  the  assent 
of  nine  States  was  necessary  to  the  conclusion  of  a  treaty. 
This  could  not  possibly  be  misunderstood.  It  was  stated  as 
plainly,  as  concisely,  as  emphatically  as  the  English  tongue 
would  permit.  Yet  the  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs  had  the 
effrontery  to  stand  up  before  Congress  and  assert  that  he 
thought  himself  warranted  by  the  assent  of  seven  States  to  go 
on  with  the  negotiation  with  Gardoqui,  that  he  had  done  so, 
and  that  he  had,  after  many  conferences  and  many  debates, 
drawn  up  an  article  for  the  non-usage  of  the  Mississippi.  But 
he  had  taken  good  care  not  to  commit  Congress  to  its  accept 
ance.*  About  the  Virginia  papers  he  had  little  to  say.  The 
troubles  in  the  West  had  greatly  embarrassed  him.  He  feared 
the  time  was  not  remote  when  the  United  States  would  be 
forced  to  fight  Spain,  or  to  make  peace  on  the  best  terms  it 

*  Secret  Journals  of  Congress,  April  11,  1787. 


1787.   DEBATE  OX  THE  SPANISH  TREATY  IN  CONGRESS.  415 

could.  Between  war  and  peace  there  was,  in  his  opinion,  no 
reputable  middle  way.  "  It  will  therefore,"  said  he,  "  be  ex 
pedient  to  prepare,  without  delay,  for  the  one  or  the  other,  for 
circumstances  which  call  for  decision  seem  daily  to  accumu 
late."  * 

Both  reports  were  listened  to  by  Congress  on  the  thir 
teenth.  When  the  reading  was  finished,  Mr.  Madison  rose 
and  moved  to  send  them  to  a  committee.  The  friends  of  the 
Spanish  interest  strongly  opposed  it ;  said  much  about  the  ter 
rible  state  of  trade  and  the  goodness  of  Spain.  But  when  the 
division  was  taken  it  was  found  that  five  States  had  voted  for 
and  three  against  the  motion.f  Yet  it  was  lost,  for  it  was 
necessary,  in  order  to  carry  any  question  whatever,  that  a  ma 
jority  of  the  States  in  the  Union  should  vote  yea.  It  was 
observed,  however,  that  three  States  had  changed  sides.  New 
Jersey  had  sent  up  positive  instruction  to  her  delegates  to 
vote  against  the  treaty.  Pennsylvania,  by  a  late  change  in 
her  representation,  had  made  it  strong  in  behalf  of  the  West. 
Rhode  Island,  too,  had  abandoned  the  eastern  alliance,  for  her 
congressmen  were  assured  that  the  true  motive  the  eastern 
States  had  for  closing  the  Mississippi  was  to  check  emigration 
to  the  rich  lands  of  the  Ohio,  and  so  increase  the  demand  for 
their  own. 

The  vote  gave  renewed  hope  to  the  supporters  of  the 
southern  view.  On  the  eighteenth  of  the  month  Madison 
again  came  forward  with  a  motion  to  send  Mr.  Jefferson  as 
Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  Madrid.  In  the  discussion  which 
followed,  Eufus  King,  who  invariably  expressed  the  sense  of 
the  East,  declared  he  saw  no  objection  to  this,  as  something 
must  be  done,  but  thought  the  secretary  should  be  given  an 
opportunity  to  speak.  This  was  done.  The  following  day  the 
memorial  of  Virginia  against  shutting  the  river  was  brought 
in,  and  a  motion  made  to  lay  it  also  before  Mr.  Jay.  King 
opposed  this.  The  instructions  had,  he  said,  been  printed  in 
the  newspapers,  and  were  not  new  to  the  secretary.  His  argu 
ment  was  clearly  an  attempt  to  relieve  Jay  of  the  responsi 
bility  of  disregarding  them.  For  the  secretary,  if  accused  of 

*  Secret  Journals  of  Congress,  April  13,  1787. 
{  Ibid.     But  eight  States  were  present. 


416    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

neglecting  them,  could  well  say  that  he  was  not  bound  to  con 
sider  as  official,  information  that  came  to  him  through  the 
press.  King  therefore  was  told  that  no  objection  should  be 
raised,  because  the  document  had  come  out  in  the  Packet, 
and  that  if  Congress  referred  any  measure  to  Mr.  Jay,  it  ought 
also  to  supply  him  at  least  with  every  fact  bearing  on  the  mat 
ter  in  the  most  authentic  way.  When  the  motion  was  put 
to  vote,  the  President  declared  that  the  nays  had  it.  On 
April  twenty-third  the  secretary's  report  was  taken  up.  The 
debate  was  warm  and  acrimonious,  and  in  the  course  of  it 
Gorham,  who  sat  in  the  Massachusetts  delegation,  avowed  that 
it  would  be  a  good  thing  for  the  Atlantic  States  to  shut  up  the 
Mississippi,  and  he  hoped  it  would  be  done.  At  this  Madison 
grew  angry,  spoke  with  great  severity  about  the  illiberal  sec 
tional  policy  of  the  East,  and  contrasted  Mr.  Gorham's  words 
"  with  the  principles  of  the  revolution  and  the  language  of 
American  patriots."  *  In  fact,  so  much  incensed  was  he  that 
he  determined  at  once  to  attack  the  action  of  Jay  on  the 
ground  of  illegality.  He  came  forward,  therefore,  with  a  final 
motion.f  He  would  have  the  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs 
informed  that,  in  the  opinion  of  Congress,  the  vote  of  seven 
States  ought  not  to  be  regarded  as  authorizing  the  suspension 
of  the  use  of  the  Mississippi.  The  discussion  was  an  angry 
one.  King  held,  and  justly,  that  the  motion  was  barred. 
There  were,  he  claimed,  twelve  States  present  when  the  in 
struction  passed.  But  eight  were  present  now.  A  rule  of  the 
House  declared  that  no  question  should  be  revived  which  had 
been  once  set  aside  by  the  previous  question,  unless  the  same 
or  an  equal  number  of  States  were  present  as  at  the  time  of 
the  previous  question.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  argued  that 
the  negotiation  was  illegal ;  that  seven  States  were  usurping 
the  power  expressly  given  to  nine.  This  was  not  denied,  but 
in  the  midst  of  the  debate  a  motion  to  adjourn  was  carried. 
~No  more  was  heard  of  the  treaty  for  eighteen  months. 

The  attention  of  the  members  was  indeed  almost  immedi 
ately  drawn  off  to  the  Federal  Convention,  for  many  among 
them  were  delegates,  and  the  day  of  meeting  was  near  at  hand. 

*  Madison's  Debates,  vol.  ii,  p.  609. 

f  Secret  Journals  of  Congress,  April  25,  1787. 


1787.  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.  417 

The  second  Monday  in  May,  which  fell  upon  the  fourteenth 
of  the  month,  had  been  chosen,  but  members  began  to  assem 
ble  at  Philadelphia  early  in  the  week  before.  Madison  set  out 
from  New  York  on  the  second  of  the  month,  and  was  the  first 
to  reach  the  city.  A  few  days  later  his  colleagues,  Blair  and 
Wythe,  left  Virginia.  Owing  "  to  the  badness  of  their  caval 
ry,"  a  State  boat  conveyed  them  to  Yorktown,  whence  they 
took  packet  to  Philadelphia.  For  a  long  time  it  seemed  doubt 
ful  whether  Washington  would  come.  He  could  not,  he  wrote, 
in  decency  do  so.  He  had  already  declined  a  re-election  to 
the  presidency  of  the  Cincinnati,  to  meet  at  Philadelphia,  and 
had  alleged  private  business  as  the  cause.*  He  could  not 
after  this  think  of  accepting  a  later  call  and  going  to  the  con 
vention.  His  scruples  were  happily  overcome  by  the  rebel 
lion  of  Shays  and  the  arguments  of  Randolph  and  Madison,  f 
He  left  Mount  Vernon  on  the  ninth  of  May.  Everywhere 
along  his  route  public  honors  attended  him.  At  Chester  he 
was  met  by  the  Speaker  of  the  Assembly,  and  by  many  of 
the  first  characters  of  the  place,  and  escorted  to  Gray's  Ferry. 
There  the  city  light-horse  met  his  carriage  and  accompanied  him 
into  town.  It  was  the  evening  of  Sunday,  the  thirteenth,  yet 
the  most  straitlaced  forgot  their  devotions,  poured  out  of  their 
houses,  and,  as  the  little  cavalcade  moved  down  the  streets  of 
the  city,  every  church-bell  sent  forth  a  joyous  din,  and  every 
voice  sent  up  a  shout  of  welcome  to  the  American  Fabius.  £ 
His  first  act  was  a  graceful  tribute  to  genius  and  worth,  for  he 
went  with  all  haste  to  pay  his  respects  to  Franklin  who  then 
filled  the  chair  of  President  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Penn 
sylvania.  This  over,  Robert  Morris  carried  him  home  to  his 
house. 

For  several  days  the  delegates  from  Virginia  and  Pennsylva 
nia  were  the  only  ones  on  the  ground.  Of  those  still  to  arrive, 
some  were  tardy  in  setting  out,  while  some  who  started  in  good 
time  were  detained  on  their  way  by  tempestuous  weather.  It 
was  not  till  the  twenty-fifth  of  the  month  that  a  quorum  of 
seven  States  was  present.  Early  on  the  morning  of  that  day 

*  Washington's  Writings,  vol.  ix,  p.  212.      f  Ibid.,  vol.  ix,  pp.  219,  243,  note. 
$  Sparks's  Life  of  Washington,  p.  435.     See  a  letter  of  Madison  to  Jefferson, 
May  15,  1787. 

VOL.  i.— 28 


4:18  THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.  OHAP.  iv. 

the  members  of  the  convention  met  in  the  State-House,  and 
by  a  unanimous  vote  called  Washington  to  the  chair.  Major 
Jackson  was  made  secretary.  His  rival  for  that  honor  was 
Temple  Franklin,  a  young  man  and  a  grandson  of  the  illus 
trious  philosopher.  But  Temple's  father  was  a  Tory ;  he  was 
himself  a  mere  lad,  and,  when  the  ballots  were  counted,  he  was 
found  to  have  too  few  for  a  choice.*  The  credentials  of  the 
delegates  were  then  examined,  a  committee  appointed  to  pre 
pare  rules,  and  an  adjournment  till  the  twenty-eighth  taken. 
Meanwhile,  delegates  from  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  came 
in.  New  Hampshire  had  named  hers.  But  her  Treasury  was 
empty,  no  funds  could  be  raised,  and  her  representatives  did 
not  come  for  some  weeks.f  When  Monday,  the  twenty-eighth, 
came,  nine  States  were  present ;  the  doors  were  closed,  a  pledge 
of  secrecy  laid  on  each  member,  and  from  that  day  forth  what 
took  place  in  the  convention  was  never  fully  known  till  Madi 
son  had  been  many  months  in  his  grave.;): 

The  convention  which  thus  continued  to  deliberate  in 
secret  for  four  months  was  undoubtedly  a  most  remarkable 
body  of  men.  Every  State  had  sent  up  in  her  delegation 
some  one  renowned  as  a  statesman  or  a  soldier,  and  of  whose 
services  in  the  cause  of  freedom  she  was  justly  proud.  Some 
had  been  members  of  the  Stamp  Act  Congress  of  1765,  and 
had,  eleven  years  later,  put  their  names  with  a  firm  hand  to 
the  Declaration  of  Independence.  A  few,  when  the  revolu 
tion  broke  out,  had  raised  regiments,  hastened  oS.  to  the  army 
of  Washington,  had  fought  through  the  war,  and  come  home 
distinguished  as  brave  and  skilful  officers.  Some  had  been 
governors  of  States,  some  were  renowned  as  jurists  and  schol 
ars,  while  others  had,  year  after  year,  been  sent  to  represent 

*  Yates's  Secret  Debates. 

f  See  a  letter  of  Madison  to  Jefferson,  June  6,  1787. 

\  Madison's  Debates  form  the  only  complete  record  of  the  discussions  in  the 
convention  that  has  come  down  to  us.  Judge  Yates  did  indeed  take  notes,  which 
were  published  after  his  death.  But  Yates,  with  Lansing,  lost  his  temper,  quit 
the  convention  in  a  huff  early  in  July,  and  never  returned.  His  notes  there 
fore  cover  but  a  third  of  the  time  the  convention  sat,  and  are,  moreover,  hasty 
and  crude.  Yates  was  a  rank  partisan,  represented  the  Clinton  party,  and 
when  he  found  he  could  not  carry  his  point,  withdrew.  His  notes  are  of  doubt 
ful  fairness.  Madison's  Debates  were  carefully  prepared,  and  after  his  death 
published  by  Congress. 


1787.  THE  DELEGATES.  419 

their  States  in  Congress.  On  the  floor  of  the  House  sat  Wash 
ington,  afterwards  the  first,  and  Madison,  afterwards  the  fourth 
President  of  the  United  States ;  Gerry,  who  became  the  fifth 
Yice-President ;  Hamilton,  soon  to  be  the  first  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury;  and  Rutledge  and  Oliver  Ellsworth,  who  rose  in 
time  to  be  chief  justices  under  the  Constitution  they  were 
about  to  form.  There  too  was  William  Johnson,  eminent  for 
his  scholastic  and  legal  attainments.  He  was  indeed  one  of 
the  few  Americans  whose  learning  had  obtained  recognition 
abroad  ;  for  Oxford  had  made  him  a  Doctor  of  Civil  Laws, 
and  the  Royal  Society  had  thought  him  not  undeserving  of 
membership.  At  home  he  had  sat  upon  the  bench  of  his  na 
tive  State,  and  had  twice  been  sent  a  delegate  to  the  Congress 
of  the  Confederation.  Pie  came  from  Connecticut,  and  with 
him  were  associated  Ellsworth  and  Roger  Sherman,  now  re 
membered  as  one  of  the  framers  and  one  of  the  signers  of  the 
Declaration. 

Massachusetts  sent  four  delegates  of  great  distinction.  El- 
bridge  Gerry,  a  signer,  and  for  many  years  a  distinguished 
member  of  Congress  ;  Nathaniel  Gorharn,  Rufus  King,  and 
Caleb  Strong.  From  New  Hampshire  came  John  Langdon, 
often  a  delegate,  and  once  the  President  of  his  State,  and  to 
whom,  a  few  months  later,  as  temporary  President  of  the  first 
Senate  under  the  Constitution,  fell  the  pleasing  duty  of  noti 
fying  Washington  of  his  election  to  the  chief  magistracy  of 
the  republic.  His  colleague  was  Nicholas  Gilman,  a  youth 
of  twenty-five,  and  the  youngest  member  of  the  convention. 
The  most  noted  member  of  the  New  York  delegation  was 
Alexander  Hamilton.  The  two  men  who  came  with  him, 
Lansing  and  that  Judge  Yates  whose  chief  service  to  posterity 
is  his  little  volume  of  the  Secret  Debates  of  the  Convention, 
were  both  Clinton  men  and  strong  Antifederalistp.  Four  men 
of  renown  came  from  New  Jersey  :  William  Livingston,  eleven 
times  Governor  of  the  State  ;  William  Patterson,  ten  times 
made  attorney-general ;  David  Brearly,  the  chief  justice ;  and 
William  Houston,  the  delegate  in  Congress. 

Gunning  Bedford,  Jr.,  Richard  Bassett,  George  Read,  a 
signer,  Jacob  Broome,  and  John  Dickinson  sat  for  Dela 
ware.  Dickinson  had  been  bred  to  the  bar,  had  early  become 


4:20    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

noted  for  eloquence  and  learning,  had  been  sent  to  the  Conti 
nental  Congress,  and  there  disgraced  himself  by  stoutly  refus 
ing  to  sign  the  Declaration.  But  his  undoubted  patriotism, 
his  .courage,  and  the  ability  with  which  he  defended  the  cause 
of  the  States,  soon  regained  all  the  popularity  he  had  lost.  lie 
once  more  sat  in  Congress,  was  three  times  President  of  Penn 
sylvania,  became  a  citizen  of  Delaware,  and  was  by  her  sent  to 
the  convention.  Maryland  chose  as  her  representatives  James 
McHenry,  Daniel  of  St.  Thomas  Jenifer,  and  Daniel  Carroll  of 
Carrollton,  all  of  them  members  of  Congress ;  John  Mercer,  a 
gallant  soldier  of  Virginia ;  and  Luther  Martin,  a  noted  law 
yer  and  Antifederalist.  From  Virginia  came  Washington  and 
Madison,  Randolph  the  Governor,  George  Mason,  George 
"Wythe,  and  John  Blair.  Patrick  Henry  had  been  chosen,  but 
he  refused  to  serve,  and  James  McClurg  took  his  place. 
North  Carolina  sent  up  Alexander  Martin,  a  battered  soldier 
of  the  revolution  and  once  a  governor,  Hugh  Williamson, 
William  Davie,  William  Blount,  and  Richard  Spaight,  an 
Irishman,  a  congressman,  and  a  firm  supporter  of  Govern 
ment.  Another  Irishman,  Pierce  Butler,  was  in  the  South 
Carolina  delegation.  Butler  was  a  man  of  ability,  and  had  at 
tained  to  some  eminence  in  his  State ;  but  no  distinction  was 
to  him  so  much  a  matter  of  pride  as  his  blood,  for  he  boasted 
that  he  could  trace  unbroken  descent  to  the  great  family  of 
Ormond.*  He  came  with  the  two  Pinckneys  and  John  Rut- 
ledge.  Georgia,  the  youngest  member  of  the  Confederation, 
had  four  delegates:  Colonel  Few,  Abraham  Baldwin,  a  Con 
necticut  man,  William  Houstoun,  and  William  Pierce,  a  Yir- 
ginian,  and  once  aide-de-camp  to  Greene.  All  of  them  had  at 
some  time  been  congressmen. 

But  no  delegation  contained  so  many  and  such  able  men 
as  that  of  Pennsylvania.  Among  its  members  the  two  men 
of  least  note  were  Thomas  Fitzsimmons,  a  great  merchant  of 
Philadelphia,  and  Jared  Ingersoll,  who  led  the  Pennsylvania 

*  Butler  was  often  twitted  in  the  lampoons  of  later  years  with  noble  descent. 
As  one  of  the  ten  Democrats  who  voted  against  Jay's  treaty,  he  is  described  as 
"  Pierce  Butler  next,  a  man  of  sterling  worth, 

Because  he  justly  claims  a  noble  birth." 

The  Democratiad :  A  Poem  in  Retaliation  for  the  Philadelphia  Jockey  Club. 
Philadelphia,  1795. 


1787.  CHARACTER  OF  DR.  FRANKLIN.  421 

bar.  "With  these  were  associated  George  Clymer,  one  of  the 
signers,  Robert  and  Gouverneur  Morris,  and  General  Mifflin, 
who,  after  fighting  with  Washington  in  the  field  and  bitterly 
denouncing  him  in  Congress,  had  received  his  resignation  as 
Commander-in-Chief,  and  been  forced  to  publicly  thank  him 
for  the  great  things  he  had  done  in  the  war.  There,  too,  was 
James  Wilson.  Wilson  was  a  Scotchman,  had  been  an  in 
mate  of  the  Universities  of  Edinburgh,  of  Glasgow,  and  of  St. 
Andrew's,  and  had  come  over  to  America  while  still  a  lad.  Of 
the  fifty-five  delegates  he  was  undoubtedly  the  best  prepared, 
by  deep  and  systematic  study  of  the  history  and  science  of 
government,  for  the  work  that  lay  before  him.  The  Marquis 
de  Chastellux,  himself  a  no  mean  student,  had  been  struck 
with  the  wide  range  of  his  erudition,  and  had  spoken  in  high 
terms  of  his  library.  There,  said  he,  are  "  all  our  best  authors 
on  law  and  jurisprudence.  The  works  of  President  Montes 
quieu  and  of  the  Chancellor  D'Aguesseau  hold  the  first  rank 
among  them,  and  he  makes  them  his  daily  study."  *  This 
learning  Wilson  had  in  times  past  turned  to  excellent  use,  and 
he  now  became  one  of  the  most  active  members  of  the  con 
vention.  None,  with  the  exception  of  Gouverneur  Morris, 
was  so  often  on  his  feet  during  the  debates,  or  spoke  more  to 
the  purpose. f 

But  the  fame  of  no  man  who  sat  that  day  in  the  State- 
House  was  so  splendid  or  went  back  to  so  early  a  time  as  that 
of  Benjamin  Franklin.  His  name  was  known  to  every  learned 
society  of  Europe  at  a  time  when  half  the  delegates  to  the 
convention  were  in  the  nursery,  and  before  the  oldest  among 
them  had  come  to  note.  He  was  great  and  famous  before 
Kufus  King,  before  Gouverneur  Morris,  before  Hamilton,  be 
fore  Madison,  before  Randolph,  were  born,  before  Wilson 
came  over  from  Scotland,  while  Pinckney  was  still  a  lad,  and 
had  risen  to  a  high  office  under  the  colonial  Government  while 
Washington  was  a  humble  captain  in  the  army  of  Braddock. 

*  Travels  of  Marquis  de  Chastellux  in  North  America,  p.  109. 

f  Some  humble  statistician  has  been  at  the  pains  to  count  the  number  of 
speeches  made  during  the  convention.  Of  these  there  are  put  down  to  Gouver 
neur  Morris  173;  to  Wilson,  168;  to  Madison,  161;  to  Sherman,  138;  to  Masou, 
136  ;  to  Elbridge  Gerry,  119.  Historical  Magazine,  January,  1861. 


422    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.    CHAP.  iv. 

Franklin  was  in  truth  the  greatest  American  then  living ;  nor 
would  it  be  safe  to  say  that  our  country  has  since  his  day 
seen  his  like.  Others  have  been  more  successful  as  philan 
thropists,  or  more  renowned  as  inventors.  A  few  have  specu 
lated  more  deeply  in  natural  philosophy,  or  have  made  a  more 
astonishing  use  of  their  knowledge  of  physics.  But  there  has 
not  been  one  who,  to  all  these  diverse  qualities  of  mind,  has 
added  that  homely  wisdom  which  has  so  well  been  named  hard 
common  sense.  His  mind  was  one  of  the  finest  of  an  age  not 
barren  of  great  minds,  and  was  trained  by  such  a  discipline  as 
rarely  falls  to  the  lot  of  any  of  the  children  of  men.  He  passed 
through  every  vicissitude  of  fortune,  and  saw  every  phase  of 
human  nature.  He  knew  poverty,  he  knew  opulence,  he  knew 
men,  he  knew  life  as  few  have  known  it.  The  son  of  an  Eng 
lish  tallow-chandler,  his  early  years  were  spent  among  the  chil 
dren  of  laborers  and  mechanics.  While  still  a  stripling  he 
stole  away  from  his  father's  house,  and,  with  a  few  pence  in 
his  pocket,  went  forth  to  seek  his  fortune,  slept  in  cock-lofts  and 
garrets,  and  bore  manf  ally  all  the  misery  of  poverty  and  want. 
Before  he  was  fifty,  the  low-born,  friendless,  self-taught  Yankee 
lad  by  frugality  and  thrift  overcame  every  obstacle  that  lay  in 
his  path,  and  raised  himself  to  great  reputation  and  to  place. 
In  his  old  age  he  came  to  stand  before  Kings  and  Parliaments, 
was  honored  by  all  manner  of  learned  societies,  and  made  the 
friend  of  powerful  statesmen  and  men  renowned  in  every 
walk  of  science  and  art.  From  this  school,  which  would  have 
ruined  an  ordinary  being,  he  came  forth.,  a  rounded  and  per 
fected  man.  Suffering  such  as  has  sufficed  to  warp  and  sour 
minds  second  only  to  his,  prosperity  such  as  has  turned  the 
strongest  heads,  served  but  to  make  him  the  most  kind-hearted, 
the  most  genial,  the  most  unassuming  of  mortals.  Men  of  all 
sorts  found  in  Franklin  a  delightful  companion  and  a  common 
friend.  Hume  and  Robertson  never  wearied  of  his  talk.  Burke 
and  Chatham  never  spoke  of  him  but  in  terms  of  praise.  He 
was  the  correspondent  of  Kames,  of  Shipley,  Bishop  of  St. 
Asaph,  of  Buffon,  of  Mably,  of  Condorcet,  of  Yergennes,  of 
La  Rochefoucauld.  Yoltaire  delighted  to  do  him  honor.  Tur- 
got  affixed  to  his  name  the  line,  "  Eripuit  cselo  fulmen,  scep- 
trumque  tyrannis."  His  popularity  in  France  was  immense. 


1787.          THE  ILLS   THE  PEOPLE   COMPLAINED   OF.  423 

It  was  not  surpassed  by  that  of  Yoltaire.  It  was  not  equalled 
by  that  of  Napoleon.  When  he  walked  the  streets  of  Paris, 
the  people  followed  him  in  crowds.  Rude  copies  of  his  face 
hung  in  the  window  of  every  print-shop  and  over  the  fire-place 
of  every  man  of  fashion.  Men  of  science  did  him  honor; 
women  of  the  world  wrote  him  sonnets.  No  nobleman's  gar 
den  was  complete  till  a  liberty-tree  had  been  planted  therein 
by  the  hand  of  the  great  philosopher.  Snuff-boxes  and  walk 
ing-sticks,  hats  and  ties  were  all  " d  la  Franklin"  The  news 
papers  delighted  to  print  his  maxims  and  good  sayings,  and 
one  of  them,  uttered  when  all  seemed  lost  to  his  country,  was 
treasured  up  by  the  people  of  France,  and  became,  long  after 
he  was  dead,  a  popular  revolutionary  cry.* 

The  task  to  which  these  men  now  applied  themselves  was 
not  an  easy  one.  They  were  expected  to  find  a  sovereign 
remedy  for  all  the  evils  that  afflicted  the  body-politic.  But  to 
say  what  were  and  what  were  not  ills  was  a  puzzling  question. 
A  few  summed  up  their  troubles  in  a  general  way,  and  de 
clared  the  times  were  hard.  Others  protested  that  the  times 
were  well  enough,  but  the  people  were  grown  extravagant  and 
luxurious.  For  this,  it  was  said,  the  merchants  were  to  blame. 
There  were  too  many  merchants.  There  were  too  many  at 
torneys.  Money  was  scarce.  Money  was  plenty.  Trade  was 
languishing.  Agriculture  was  fallen  into  decay.  Manufact 
ures  should  be  encouraged.  Paper  should  be  put  out.  No 
mind  seemed  capacious  enough  to  take  in  all  at  a  glance,  and 
go  at  once  through  a  mass  of  deceptive  appearances  to  the  real 
cause  of  distress. 

One  shrewd  observer  complained  that  his  countrymen  had 
fallen  away  sadly  from  those  simple  tastes  which  were  the  life- 
blood  of  republics.  It  was  distressing  to  see  a  thrifty  farmer 
shaking  his  head  and  muttering  that  taxes  were  ruining  him 
at  the  very  moment  his  three  daughters,  who  would  have  been 
much  better  employed  at  the  spinning-wheel,  were  being 

*  For  Franklin's  popularity,  see  Franklin's  Works,  viii,  p.  303  ;  ix,  p.  22. 
Adams's  Works,  iii,  pp.  134,  135,  220,  221.  Campan,  Memoires  sur  Marie  Antoi 
nette,  t.  ii,  p.  233.  Capefigue,  Louis  XVI.,  t.  ii,  p.  11,  note.  Memoires  de  Mme. 
Vigee  Lebrun,  t.  i,  p.  251.  Memoires  et  Corres.  de  Mme.  d'Epinay,  t.  iii,  p.  419. 
Also,  Rosenthal's  America  and  France,  pp.  57-59,  70-74.  The  saying  alluded  to 
was  "  a  ira." 


424    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  rv. 

taught  to  caper  by  a  French,  dancing-master.  It  was  pitiable 
to  see  a  great  lazy,  lounging,  lubberly  fellow  sitting  days  and 
nights  in  a  tippling-house,  working  perhaps  two  days  in  a 
week,  receiving  double  the  wages  he  really  earned,  spending 
the  rest  of  his  time  in  riot  and  debauch,  and,  when  the  tax- 
collector  came  round,  complaining  of  the  hardness  of  the  times 
and  the  want  of  a  circulating  medium.  Go  into  any  coffee 
house  of  an  evening  and  you  were  sure  to  overhear  some  fel 
low  exclaiming,  "  Such  times !  no  money  to  be  had !  taxes 
high  !  no  business  doing !  we  shall  all  be  broken  men  !  "  Lan 
guage  such  as  this  one  might  expect  to  come  from  some  poor 
wretch  in  ragged  clothes  and  destitute  circumstances.  But 
the  speaker  was  invariably  a  spruce  young  fellow  in  an  ele 
gant  silk  waistcoat,  satin  breeches,  shoe-buckles  d  la  mode  d 
Londres,  with  a  hat  cocked  with  ineffable  grace,  and  a  fine 
bamboo  cane.  Ask  the  waiter  who  he  was,  and  you  would 
learn  he  was  shopkeeper  to  a  merchant.  The  country  was 
full  of  like  men.  Mechanics  were  held  in  such  low  esteem 
that  every  farmer's  son  must  needs  be  a  merchant.  His  father 
might  not  have  a  single  hogshead  of  tobacco  with  which  to 
set  him  up.  But  it  mattered  not.  He  would  get  a  clerk's 
place,  dress,  powder,  wait  upon  the  ladies,  make  friends  as  fast 
as  he  could,  procure  letters  of  credit,  send  to  England,  and 
after  a  while  open  a  store  with  a  cargo  of  goods  for  which  he 
had  never  paid  a  shilling,  become  bankrupt,  and  immediately 
raise  a  cry  about  hard  times,  high  taxes,  and  lack  of  money. 
Of  course  there  was  a  great  lack  of  money.  Virginia  afforded 
innumerable  proofs  of  this.  There  horse-racing  was  become 
so  much  a  science  as  to  be  thought  a  necessary  part  of  the  edu 
cation  of  every  Virginian.  Yet  at  ten  turfs  within  the  State 
there  was  only  two  thousand  six  hundred  and  ten  pounds  paid 
annually  to  the  owners  of  winning  horses.  During  the  two 
past  winters  the  American  Company  of  Comedians  had  con 
descended  to  spend  much  time  in  the  State.  But  such  was 
the  prodigious  scarcity  of  money  that  even  in  the  city  of 
Richmond,  and  in  the  large  and  opulent  borough  of  Peters- 
burg,  not  more  than  two  hundred  people  could  be  got  together 
of  a  night,  though  the  tickets  were  at  the  moderate  price  of  a 
dollar.  Again,  an  industrious  man  had,  with  much  labor,  ex- 


1T8T.         THE  ILLS  THE  PEOPLE   COMPLAINED   OF.  425 

pense,  and  assiduity,  brought  a  dog  of  uncommon  sagacity  to 
dance  on  his  hind  legs,  and  in  point '  of  gesture  and  address 
equal  any  puppy  whatever.  Yet  lie  had  the  cruel  mortifica 
tion  to  receive  no  more  than  one  hundred  dollars  a  night. 
Three  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  were  paid  in  prizes  for  cock 
fights  in  a  single  spring.  At  one  of  these  no  more  than  three 
fellows  lost  ten  dollars  each  on  a  single  battle,  and  paid  it  be 
fore  the  face  of  a  sheriff,  who  had  for  six  weeks  been  trying  to 
get  five  dollars  out  of  them  for  their  specie-tax.  In  a  word, 
so  extreme  was  the  scarcity  of  money  that  the  sum  expended 
by  rich  Virginians  in  concerts,  balls,  barbecues,  puppet-shows, 
legerdemain  tricks,  and  dancing  dogs,  did  not  much  exceed 
twenty-seven  thousand  dollars  a  year. 

If  further  proofs  were  wanted  of  the  unparalleled  scarcity 
of  money,  New  England  would  furnish  them.  There  persons 
could  get  no  more  than  double  the  value  in  cash  of  their  axe- 
helves  and  hoe-handles,  their  wooden  trays,  their  cider,  their 
carrots,  their  parsnips,  their  cabbages.  Nothing,  in  fact,  cost 
more  than  half  as  much  again  as  it  did  ten  years  ago.  This,  it 
was  answered,  might  all  be  so,  but  it  could  not  alter  the  fact 
that  the  times  were  hard  and  the  country  on  the  brink  of  ruin. 
In  Massachusetts  the  leaders  of  the  late  rebellion  were  making 
laws  to  exempt  themselves  from  punishment.  In  Rhode 
Island  the  bonds  of  society  were  dissolved  by  paper  money 
and  tender  laws.  Why  did  the  people  of  New  Jersey  nail  up 
the  doors  of  their  court-houses  ?  *  Why  did  the  debtors  of  Vir 
ginia  set  fire  to  theirs  in  order  to  stop  the  course  of  justice  ?  f 
The  newspapers  were  full  of  bankrupt  notices.  The  farmers' 
taxes  amounted  to  near  the  rent  of  their  farms.  Mechanics 
wandered  up  and  down  the  streets  of  every  city  destitute  of 
work.  Ships,  shut  out  from  every  port  of  Europe,  lay  rotting 
in  the  harbors.  The  American  name  was  insulted  at  every 
court.  Would  any  person  of  sense  declare,  after  beholding 
such  a  picture  as  this,  that  times  were  not  hard,  that  the  coun 
try  was  not  upon  the  brink  of  ruin,  that  a  new  and  vigorous 
Federal  Government  was  not  needed  ?  What  was  to  become 
of  the  people?  Trade  was  gone.  Manufactures  were  dead. 

*  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  April  26,  1786. 

f  See  the  account  in  Independent  Gazetteer,  September  21,  1787. 


4:26    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

Everything  was  coming  in  from  abroad,  and  the  money  fast 
going  out.  There  was  nothing  left  but  to  become  a  farmer  or 
a  merchant,  and  a  merchant  was  thought  the  more  honorable 
of  the  two.  It  was  better  to  weigh  out  coffee  than  to  plant 
corn ;  to  draw  molasses  than  to  drive  a  plough.  The  whole 
nation  was  like  to  turn  into  merchants. 

There  was,  however,  one  man  clear-headed  and  temperate 
enough  to  look  calmly  on  what  went  on  about  him,  and  take  a 
correct  view  of  the  state  of  affairs.  He  had  himself  endured 
many  hardships  and  undergone  much  suffering,  but  had  never 
in  the  darkest  hour  looked  upon  the  gloomy  and  hopeless  side  of 
things.  He  now  put  forth  a  neat  little  essay  which  he  called 
"  Consolation  for  America."  In  his  usual  way,  for  Franklin 
was  the  author,  he  began  with  an  apt  anecdote,  and  then  went 
on  to  take  a  dispassionate  view  of  the  real  condition  of  the 
country.  He  saw,  he  said,  in  the  newspapers  complaints  of 
hard  times,  deadness  of  trade,  scarcity  of  money,  and  the  like. 
He  could  not  say  that  these  complaints  were  without  founda 
tion.  There  were  in  all  countries  people  so  circumstanced  as 
to  find  it  hard  to  gain  a  livelihood ;  people  with  whom  money 
was  scarce  simply  because  they  had  nothing  to  give  in  exchange 
for  it ;  and  it  was  always  in  the  power  of  a  small  number  to 
make  a  great  clamor.  But,  on  a  cool  examination,  the  prospect 
would  appear  less  gloomy  than  was  imagined. 

The  chief  business  of  the  continent  was  agriculture.  For 
one  artisan  or  one  merchant  there  were  perhaps  a  hundred 
farmers.  Each  cultivated  his  own  land,  drew  from  it  riot  only 
food,  but  clothing,  and,  after  taking  out  for  himself,  had  some 
to  spare  for  commerce.  For  the  part  thus  disposed  of  he  never 
was  better  paid  than  at  that  moment,  as  the  prices  current  suf 
ficiently  showed.  In  truth,  when  one  who  had  travelled  through 
Europe  and  seen  how  small  is  the  proportion  of  persons  in 
affluence  to  those  in  poverty,  the  few  rich  and  haughty  land 
lords,  the  multitude  of  abject,  rack-rented,  tithe-paying  tenants, 
and  half -paid,  half -starved  laborers,  beheld  the  happy  medioc 
rity  that  so  generally  prevailed  in  the  States,  he  would  be  con 
vinced  that  no  country  enjoyed  a  greater  share  of  human  felic 
ity  than  America. 

In  the  cities,  the  owners  of  houses  and  lands  had  their 


1787.          THE   ILLS   THE  PEOPLE   COMPLAINED  OF.  427 

interests  vastly  augmented  in  value.  Rents  had  risen  to  an 
astonishing  height.  This  made  a  demand  for  new  buildings. 
!N"ew  buildings  gave  employment  to  many  workmen,  who  asked 
and  were  paid  higher  wages  than  any  other  part  of  the  world 
would  afford  them.  If  merchants  found  trade  languishing, 
it  was  because  they  had  imported  more  goods  than  the  people 
could  buy.  If  shopkeepers  found  trade  dead  and  money 
scarce,  it  was  not  from  the  fewness  of  buyers,  but  from  the 
excessive  number  of  sellers,  that  the  mischief  arose.  There 
were  too  many  artisans  and  farmers  turned  shopkeepers.  Let 
them  return  to  their  tools  and  their  ploughs,  leave  the  shops  to 
women  and  widows,  and  money  would  soon  be  plenty  enough. 
Some  were  apprehensive  for  the  future.  The  increase  of  lux 
ury  alarmed  them.  The  States,  they  were  sure,  were  on  the 
high-road  to  ruin.  This  could  hardly  be.  It  rarely  happened 
that  the  amount  of  idleness  and  prodigality  of  a  people,  which 
tended  to  dissipate,  surpassed  the  amount  of  industry  and  fru 
gality,  which  tended  to  accumulate  property.  The  luxury  of  a 
few  seaports  was  not  likely  to  ruin  a  country  so  full  of  industri 
ous  and  well-to-do  farmers  as  the  United  States.  Farming  and 
the  fisheries  were  the  sources  of  wealth.  Every  man  that  put  a 
seed  into  the  ground  was  recompensed  forty  fold.  Every  man 
that  drew  a  fish  out  of  the  waters  drew  up  a  piece  of  silver.* 

Both  the  grumblers  and  the  hopeful  were,  however,  of  the 
same  mind  on  one  matter.  They  were  sure  the  convention 
then  in  secret  session  would  construct  such  a  form  of  govern 
ment  as  would  cure  these  manifold  ills  of  the  country,  and 
bring  peace  and  quiet  to  the  distracted  States.  Meanwhile,  the 
people  of  Philadelphia  were  much  diverted  by  two  other  at 
tempts  at  reform.  Neither  was  highly  thought  of  at  the  time, 


*  Consolation  for  America,  or  remarks  on  her  real  situation,  interests,  and  pol 
icy.  By  his  Excellency  Benjamin  Franklin,  Esq.,  etc.  American  Museum,  Janu 
ary,  1787.  My  authorities  for  the  statements  in  the  text  are  chiefly  American 
Manufactures.  Three  Letters  by  A  Plain  but  Real  Friend  to  America.  The  Devil 
is  in  You,  by  Tom  Thoughtful.  A  Word  of  Consolation  for  America,  by  An  Honest 
and  Cheerful  Citizen.  Present  Situation  of  Affairs,  American  Museum,  1787. 
Cause  of  and  Cure  for  Hard  Times.  Causes  of  A  Country's  growing  Rich.  Thoughts 
on  the  Present  Situation  of  Affairs.  A  View  of  the  Federal  Government.  Three 
Letters  by  a  Bostonian.  Hard  Times,  Columbian  Magazine,  1786,  p.  31.  The 
Primitive  Whig,  New  Jersey  Gazette,  January  9,  1786. 


428    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

yet  each  was  the  forerunner  of  great  things  to  come.  One  was 
the  result  of  the  labors  of  Noah  Webster  to  improve  the  Eng 
lish  tongue.  The  other  was  the  work  of  John  Fitch,  and 
marks  the  beginning  of  that  splendid  series  of  American  in 
ventions  that  is  without  a  parallel  in  history. 

Noah  Webster  was  a  man  of  some  learning,  narrow-rnind- 
ed  it  is  true,  yet  able,  of  unflagging  industry,  and  of  great 
self-reliance.  But  he  was  unhappily  afflicted  with  the  most 
offensive  of  all  faults,  gross  self-conceit.  Though  a  young 
man,  he  had  risen  to  some  notoriety  in  New  England  as  a  zeal 
ous  Whig,  a  firm  friend  of  Government,  and  as  the  author  of 
some  political  essays  which  may  still  be  perused  with  interest, 
and  an  excellent  spelling-book  for  schools.  Webster  was  him 
self  a  school-master,  and  had  conceived  a  strong  disgust  for  the 
ancient  Dilworth  and  Jonson,  which  were  at  that  time  the  only 
spelling-books  in  use.  He  set  about  correcting  them,  and  as 
he  worked  upon  his  book  the  idea  of  a  still  greater  reform 
seems  to  have  started  in  his  mind.  He  would  improve  the  Eng 
lish  tongue.  He  would  simplify  English  spelling  and  gram 
mar.  He  would  destroy  those  dialectical  differences  that  made 
the  New  England  man  a  laughing-stock  of  the  Virginian,  and 
establish  an  American  language  that  would  in  time  go  over 
the  ocean  and  replace  the  ancient  speech  of  England.  The 
scheme  was  a  bold  one.  But  Webster  was  young,  ardent,  and 
began  his  task  with  a  spirit  worthy  of  so  high  a  purpose.  Like 
most  reformers,  he  commenced  by  laying  down  a  theory  of  per 
fection,  which  he  carried  out  unswervingly  to  its  logical  ex 
treme.  Some  wTords  were  to  be  proscribed ;  the  spelling  of 
others  was  to  be  materially  altered ;  all  silent  vowels  were  to 
be  cut  out.  But  the  most  daring  innovation  was  in  the  alpha 
bet.  The  new  language  was  to  have  every  sound  represented 
by  a  letter,  and  no  letter  was  to  be  suffered  to  remain  that  did 
not  stand  for  a  distinct  sound.  Many  new  characters  were 
therefore  to  be  introduced,  and  many  old  ones  cast  aside. 
Such  was  his  enthusiasm  and  conceit  that  he  felt  quite  sure 
that  letters  familiar  to  hundreds  of  generations  of  men,  and 
older  than  any  other  institution,  human  or  divine,  then  exist 
ing,  letters  that  had  seen  the  rise  of  every  language  of  West 
ern  Europe,  that  were  old  when  the  first  Saxon  set  foot  in 


1T87.  NOAH  WEBSTER'S  SPELLING  REFORM.  429 

Britain,  when  Christ  came  on  earth,  when  Coesar  invaded  Gaul, 
when  Home  was  still  a  petty  hamlet  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber, 
would  at  his  suggestion  be  ruthlessly  swept  away.  JSTor  was 
he  the  only  one  who  thought  so.  Franklin  was  made  ac 
quainted  with  the  plan,  and  wrote  to  Webster  that  he  had 
himself  often  thought  of  such  a  change ;  that  he  believed  it 
not  merely  practicable  but  necessary,  and  that  for  his  part  he 
was  ready  to  give  it  all  the  encouragement  and  all  the  support 
in  his  power. 

To  bring  his  plan  to  the  attention  of  the  public,  Webster 
wrote  a  series  of  lectures  which  he  read  during  the  winter 
of  1785  and  the  spring  of  1786  at  Annapolis,  at  Baltimore, 
at  Philadelphia,  and  New  York.  Everywhere  he  met  with 
much  applause.  One  who  heard  him  at  Annapolis  declared 
that  he  had  gone  with  indifference  and  come  away  with  regret. 
After  all  that  had  been  written  on  the  subject,  he  looked  for 
nothing  new,  especially  from  an  American.  But  he  was  agree 
ably  disappointed.  The  lecturer  was  bold  enough  to  call  in 
question  opinions  of  eminent  English  writers  which  had  till 
then  passed  for  truth,  and  if  he  received  the  attention  he  de 
served,  England  would  be  indebted  to  America  for  the  last  im 
provement  in  her  tongue.* 

At  New  York,  Ramsey  and  many  of  the  congressmen  who 
heard  him  were  much  pleased,  approved  his  plan,  and  urged 
him  to  go  011.  But  in  Philadelphia  were  many  who  looked 
coldly  on  so  radical  a  change.f  This  Webster  well  knew,  and, 
before  lecturing  in  that  city,  cast  about  him  for  some  public 
character  whose  good  services  he  might  secure.  He  selected 
his  countryman  Timothy  Pickering,  and  to  Pickering  he  now 

*  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  January  16,  1786. 

f  Webster  was  never  popular  at  Philadelphia.  Peter  Porcupine  (William  Cob- 
bett),  in  his  attack  on  Dr.  Rush's  quack  medicine,  written  thirteen  years  later,  nar 
rates  an  anecdote  of  Webster  which,  true  or  false,  illustrates  the  conceit  of  the 
man.  When  he  came  to  take  charge  of  the  Episcopal  Academy  he  is  said  to  have 
met  Dr.  Rush  in  the  street,  when  the  following  dialogue  took  place : 
"  Scene,  a  Street.  Enter  Rush  and  Webster. 

"  Rush.  How  do  you  do,  my  dear  friend  ?  I  congratulate  you  on  your  arrival 
in  Philadelphia. 

"  Webster.  You  may,  if  you  please,  sir,  congratulate  Philadelphia  on  -the  occa- 
bion ! ! !  (They  embrace.)"  See  The  Rush-Light,  February  28,  1800,  p.  51. 


430    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION".   CHAP.  iv. 

wrote.  He  had,  so  the  letter  ran,  begun  a  reform  in  the  lan 
guage.  His  plan  was  still  in  embryo,  yet  he  proposed  to 
make  it  the  subject  of  a  set  of  lectures  to  be  read  in  Philadel 
phia  some  time  during  the  winter.  As  he  was  the  first  Ameri 
can  to  undertake  so  bold  a  plan,  a  Yankee,  and  a  youth,  he 
felt  the  need  of  the  countenance  of  gentlemen  of  the  estab 
lished  character  of  Mr.  Pickering.  He  wished,  therefore,  that 
a  notice  of  his  coming  might  be  inserted  in  a  Philadelphia 
newspaper,  in  order  to  prepare  the  minds  of  the  people  for 
such  an  event.*  In  a  word,  he  wanted  what  in  the  language 
of  our  time  would  be  called  a  puff. 

When  the  lectures  came  off,  Pickering  made  one  of  the 
audience,  and  has  left  us,  undoubtedly,  a  just  estimate  of  the 
performance.  "With  a  competent  share  of  good  sense,  the 
lecturer  had,  he  declared,  a  quantum  sufficit  of  vanity,  and 
greatly  over-estimated  his  own  talents.  Such,  in  truth,  was  his 
egotism  that  his  hearers  were  prevented  from  receiving  that 
satisfaction  which  they  must  otherwise  have  drawn  from  his 
ingenious  observations.  As  to  the  encouragement  he  met 
with,  it  was  nothing  to  boast  of.  But  then  the  Philadelphi- 
ans  had  ever  seemed  to  have  an  overweening  opinion  of 
their  own  literary  acquirements  as  well  as  other  excellencies,  f 
This,  before  a  year  had  gone  by,  "Webster  found  to  be  quite 
true.  It  was  long  before  the  recollection  of  his  offensive  ego 
tism,  and  the  strictures  he  laid  on  the  improper  pronunciation 
of  many  words,  were  forgotten  by  the  Philadelphians. 

Late  in  April,  1787,  the  Independent  Gazetteer,  a  scurril 
ous  sheet  even  for  those  times,  and  strongly  tinged  with  Anti- 
federalism,  published  a  communication  in  which,  among  other 
things,  Webster  was  accused  of  being  a  Tory  and  an  enemy 
of  the  public  debt.J  Webster  had  no  liking  for  the  Philadel- 
.phians,  who  had  indeed  given  a  poor  reception  to  his  book. 
In  truth,  he  had  complained  to  Pickering  that  while  the  "  In 
stitute  "  found  a  ready  sale  at  Charleston,  at  New  York,  and  in 

*  See  a  letter  from  Noah  Webster  to  Timothy  Pickering,  October  28,  1785. 

t  Pickering  to  John  Gardiner,  July  4,  1786.  Life  of  Pickering,  by  0.  Pick 
ering,  vol.  i,  p.  537. 

\  Independent  Gazetteer,  May  9,  10,  15,  and  23,  June  4,  6,  7,  11,  26,  and  30, 
1787. 


1787.  WEBSTER  ATTACKED   BY  THE  PRESS.  431 

the  East,  there  was  scarce  a  call  for  it  at  Philadelphia.*  This 
new  offence  was  therefore  hard  to  bear.  He  quite  lost  his 
temper,  and  had  the  bad  taste  to  reply.  But  this  only  made 
matters  worse,  for  the  reply  was,  to  say  the  least,  full  of  bit 
terness  and  conceit.  Had  he  not,  he  said,  a  thousand  testimo 
nials  of  his  patriotism,  love  of  government,  and  justice ;  had 
he  not  written  the  substance  of  volumes  in  support  of  the 
revolution  and  the  Federal  measures ;  had  he  not  crushed,  al 
most  with  his  single  pen,  a  State  combination  against  these 
measures,  there  might  be  some  appearance  of  truth  in  the 
charge.  He  then  went  on,  in  a  long  letter,  to  show  that  he 
really  was  an  ill-used  man.f 

This  was  precisely  what  the  Gazetteer  wanted ;  and  from, 
that  time  forth  for  two  months  scarce  a  number  came  out  but 
it  contained  some  fling  at  Webster.;);  A  host  of  pretended 
school-masters  attacked  him,  half  in  sport,  half  in  earnest, 
sometimes  as  Mr.  Webster,  sometimes  as  Mr.  Grammatical 
Institute,  and  again  as  the  Institutical  Genius.  Did  Mr.  Web 
ster,  said  one  of  them,  suppose  for  a  moment  that  any  man  in 
Pennsylvania  would  submit  to  be  instructed  by  a  man  from 
New  England,  where,  so  far  from  being  acquainted  with  their 
own  language,  they  stupidly  spoke  a  mixture  of  all  ?  Mr. 
Webster  had  much  fault  to  find  with  some  words  often  in  the 
mouths  of  Pemisylvanians.  But  were  they  much  better  off  in 
New  England  \  Where  under  the  sun  did  they  get  kaow  for 
cow?  Nan,  a  word  much  in  use  among  the  Quakers,  was  far 
better,  and  could  not  possibly  be  thrown  aside.  In  truth,  if 
he  were  to  pick  out  all  the  awkward,  old-fashioned  words  that 
continued  to  be  as  current  among  them  as  the  Jersey  six-pound 
bills,  he  would  have  to  peruse  the  dictionary  from  A  to  Z.* 

On  another  occasion  he  was  derided  for  placing  after  his 
name  the  word  'Squire,  and  this  in  the  eyes  of  many  was  the 
greatest  fault  of  all.  For  the  old  reverence  for  titles  and 
marks  of  rank  had  not  yet  become  extinct,  and  it  was  thought 

*  Webster  to  Pickering,  October  28,  1785.  Life  of  Pickering.  Nathaniel 
Patten,  in  his  attack  on  Webster's  Speller,  asserts  that  the  sale  was  twenty  thou 
sand  copies  annually.  Connecticut  Courant,  May  24,  1790.  American  Mercury, 
May,  1790.  f  Independent  Gazetteer,  May  10,  1787. 

\  See  the  Independent  Gazetteers  for  April  25,  May  26,  May  29,  May  30,  May 
31,  June  1,  1787.  *  Independent  Gazetteer,  May  26,  1787. 


432    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

a  piece  of  impudence  for  an  upstart  Yankee  school-master  to 
assume  so  dignified  a  title.* 

But  in  general  the  jests  and  sarcasms  were  directed  against 
his  book.  In  a  mock  address  to  the  Federal  Convention,  that 
body  was  asked  to  see  to  it  that  the  English  tongue  was  prop 
erly  established.  One  Webster,  a  ISTew  England  man,  had  put 
out  a  book  which  he  called  an  "  Institute,"  and  which  contained 
some  new  things.  On  the  title-page  was  the  word  systematic. 
This  strong  propensity  to  clip  off  the  al  from  systematical  and 
like  words  was  noticed  with  concern.  It  was  an  innovation. 
It  was  to  be  looked  to,  for  was  not  the  al  essential  to  the 
language  and  the  main  pillar  of  the  Federal  Government? 
On  another  page  he  used  need  for  needs,  which  every  school 
boy  knew  was  false.  Could  the  States  exist  when  a  verb  did 
not  agree  with  its  nominative  case.  The  same  Institutical  Ge 
nius  declared  that  all  adjectives  could  be  compared  by  more 
and  most.  What  child  did  not  know  that  one  thing  could  not 
be  more  square  or  more  cubical  than  another?  Adjectives 
such  as  broad  and  long  followed,  he  said,  the  nouns  they  quali 
fied.  It  would  therefore  be  proper  to  say  hereafter  that 
Chestnut  was  a  street  long  and  Market  a  street  broad.  Could 
a  New  England  man  be  right  ?  His  attempt  to  introduce  his 
"  Institute  "  into  the  schools  and  displace  Dilworth  and  Jonson 
was  a  Whig  scheme. 

But  a  still  greater  revolution  was  at  the  same  time  well 
under  way.  Steam  navigation  had  begun.  The  first  boat  in 
the  United  States,  and  almost  the  first  in  the  world,  had  been 
moved  by  steam..  The  glory  of  this  invention  is  most  com 
monly  ascribed  to  Fulton.  But  an  equal  share  must  in  justice 
be  meted  out  to  Rumsey  and  to  Fitch.  Both  were  men  of 
wonderful  mechanical  bent ;  both  were  familiar  with  the  power 
of  steam,  and  both,  almost  at  the  same  time,  conceived  the 
idea  of  using  it  to  drive  boats  through  the  water. 

John  Fitch  was  a  native  of  Connecticut,  had  been  bred  a 
mechanic,  and  had,  at  his  trade,  shown  much  ingenuity  and 
skill.  He  was,  in  truth,  a  born  inventor,  and  to  wonderful 
originality  of  mind  joined  two  traits  of  character,  for  lack 
of  which  many  minds  as  fertile  as  his  have  gone  to  waste. 

*  Independent  Gazetteer,  June  1,  1787. 


1787.  THE   STEAMBOAT   OF  JOHN  FITCH.  433 

Calamities  and  humiliations,  such  as  have  bowed  down  and 
broken  the  spirits  of  hundreds  of  inventors,  failed  utterly  to 
check  his  ardor  or  to  cool  his  zeal.  It  was  not  till  late  in 
life,  however,  that  his  remarkable  powers  began  to  display 
themselves.  He  had  passed  his  fortieth  year  before  he  ceased 
his  wanderings,  settled  down  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware, 
and  built  his  first  boat.  In  April,  1785,  while  at  Neshaminy, 
an  obscure  village  of  Bucks  county,  Pennsylvania,  the  idea  of 
moving  a  carriage  by  steam  seems  to  have  come  to  him.  He 
was,  he  afterward  declared,  quite  ignorant  at  that  time  of  the 
inventions  of  Watt,  and  felt  much  disappointment  when  one 
Irwin,  a  minister  at  Neshaminy,  showed  him  a  picture  of  a 
steam-engine  in  "  Martin's  Philosophy."  After  turning  the 
matter  over  in  his  mind  for  a  few  days  he  abandoned  it,  and 
took  up  a  plan  for  propelling  boats  by  steam.  His  first  model, 
with  paddle-wheels  at  the  side,  was  quickly  built  and  tried  on 
the  waters  of  a  small  stream  that  flowed  by  the  town  of  Davis- 
ville.  It  was  crude  in  the  extreme;  but  Ewing,  who  was 
president  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  saw  it,  was 
pleased  with  it,  and  urged  Fitch  to  seek  aid  of  the  General 
Government.  He  gave  him,  indeed,  a  letter  to  Houston,  who 
had  for  some  years  been  a  member  of  Congress.  Houston 
sent  him  to  Lambert  Cadwalader,  a  New  Jersey  delegate,  and 
with  his  help  an  application  was  made,  in  due  form,  to  Con 
gress.  But  the  members  of  that  weak  and  despised  body  were 
too  busy  with  the  impost  and  the  regulation  of  trade  to  give 
any  heed  to  the  prayer  of  a  hare-brained  mechanic.  His  plan 
was  coldly  put  aside,  and,  half  in  anger,  half  in  disgust,  Fitch 
turned  to  Gardoqui.  But  he  was  once  more  disappointed. 
The  Spaniard  would  have  all  or  none,  and  refused  to  subscribe 
a  dollar  unless  all  the  profits  and  a  monopoly  of  the  invention 
went  to  his  master  the  King  of  Spain.  This  Fitch  had  the 
spirit  to  decline.  "  If,"  he  said,  "  there  be  any  glory  and  profit 
in  the  invention,  my  countrymen  shall  have  the  whole  of  it." 

And  now  the  future  began  to  look  bright  to  him.  New 
Jersey  gave  him  a  patent-right  to  navigate  the  streams  and 
rivers  of  the  State  for  fourteen  years.  Some  gentlemen  at 
Philadelphia  became  interested,  f ormed  a  company,  and  raised 
a  purse  of  three  hundred  dollars  to  help  him  on  with  his  work. 
VOL.  i. — 29 


434      THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.      CHAP.  iv. 

He  was  at  the  same  time  joined  by  one  to  whose  aid  he  soon 
owed  great  things.  There  was  in  the  city  a  Dutch  watch 
maker  named  Voight.*  Yoight  was  a  skilled  mechanic,  was 
of  an  ingenious  turn  of  mind,  heard  of  the  new  company,  went 
to  Fitch,  made  an  offer  of  his  services,  and  the  two  were  soon 
at  work  on  a  small  boiler  and  engine.  The  first  trial  was  made 
on  the  Delaware  early  in  the  summer  of  1786.  But  the  con 
denser  was  found  to  be  imperfect.  The  valves  were  not  tight. 
The  piston  leaked.  Water  ran  in  streams  from  the  cylinder- 
heads,  which  were  of  wood.  These  defects  were  remedied,  and 
a  second  trial  made.  The  engine,  by  a  clumsy  arrangement  of 
levers,  was  first  made  to  move  a  single  paddle  at  the  stern ; 
then  an  endless  chain,  with  many  paddles  fastened  to  it,  was 
placed  on  each  side  of  the  boat;  then  paddle-wheels  at  the 
sides ;  and  finally  a  system  of  six  upright  oars  on  each  side. 
This  gave  the  best  results,  and  the  boat  moved  off  at  the  aston 
ishing  rate  of  seven  miles  an  hour.  Fitch  was  elated.  If  so 
small  a  craft,  driven  by  so  small  an  engine,  could  reach  so  high 
a  rate  of  speed,  there  was,  he  declared,  no  reason  why  a  large 
boat,  with  a  larger  engine,  should  not  go  at  a  more  rapid  pace. 
A  vessel  forty-five  feet  long  was  accordingly  built,  an  engine 
of  twelve-inch  cylinder  put  in,  and,  late  in  August,  1787,  the 
steamer  was,  in  the  presence  of  a  great  crowd  of  spectators, 
run  up  and  down  the  Delaware  river.  Many  members  of  the 
Federal  Convention  looked  on,  for  the  delegates  had  on  that 
day  adjourned  in  order  that  a  committee  might  deliberate  on 
a  clause  of  the  proposed  constitution  relating  to  the  passage  of 
navigation  acts  by  Congress.  All  were  delighted.  Some  drew 
up  and  gave  to  Fitch  special  certificates  setting  forth  the  mer 
its  of  the  strange  experiment  they  had  seen.  Among  them 
were  Randolph,  Governor  of  Virginia ;  Doctor  Johnson, 
of  Connecticut ;  Andrew  Ellicot,  and  that  David  Rittenhouse 
whose  name  is,  unhappily  for  himself,  associated  with  the  most 
absurd  of  all  mechanical  contrivances,  an  orrery,  f 

*  Voight  afterward  became  an  officer  in  the  United  States  Mint,  and  gained 
some  notoriety  for  an  improvement  in  the  manufacture  of  steel.  Sec  Pennsyl 
vania  Journal,  May  27,  1793;  also,  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  May  29,  1793. 

f  For  an  account  of  John  Fitch,  see  his  Life  by  Westcott.  For  an  account  of 
his  boat,  see  Description  of  a  new  invented  Steamboat.  Columbian  Magazine,  De- 


1787.  THE  STEAMBOAT   OF  JAMES  KUMSEY.  435 

But  while  Fitcli  was  experimenting  at  Philadelphia,  James 
Ramsey  was  hard  at  work  upon  another  steamboat  at  Shep- 
herdstown,  a  small  Virginia  village  on  the  Potomac.*  The 
method  of  propulsion  he  employed  was  to  suck  water  in  at 
the  bow  and  eject  it  at  the  stern,  a  system  that  has  ever  since 
his  time  tormented  inventors,  has  been  repeatedly  tested,  and 
as  often  thrown  aside.  No  precise  account  of  his  machine 
has  come  down  to  us.  But  the  boast  has  been  preserved  that 
it  would  not  cost  more  than  twenty  guineas  for  a  ten-ton  boat, 
nor  consume  more  than  four  bushels  of  coal,  or  the  equiva 
lent  in  wood,  in  twelve  hours.  The  trial-trip  was  made  on 
the  eleventh  of  December,  1787.  The  vessel  carried  half  her 
loading  and  a  crowd  of  guests.  Gates  was  among  them,  and 
has  borne  testimony  to  the  fact  that  a  run  of  four  miles-  was 
made  in  one  hour  against  the  current  of  the  Potomac  river. 
The  vessel's  speed  would,  it  was  thought,  have  been  at  least 
eight  miles  in  the  same  space  of  time ;  but,  unfortunately, 
some  water  had  been  suffered  to  stand  in  the  pipes,  had  frozen, 


cember,  1786,  and  January,  1787.  The  description  is  by  Fitch,  and  an  engrav 
ing  of  the  boat  is  given.  See,  also,  The  Growth  of  the  Stcam-Engine,  by  R. 
H.  Thurston ;  and  an  interesting  sketch  of  early  steam  navigation  in  Ameri 
ca,  in  the  Historical  Magazine,  April,  1859,  p.  125,  and  vol.  iii,  pp.  3,  4.  One 
of  the  earliest  of  Fitch's  experiments  was  made  on  the  Schuylkill,  at  Gray's 
Ferry,  in  the  spring  of  1785.  Rembrandt  Peale  saw  it,  and  has  left  an  ac 
count  of  it  in  a  Letter  on  the  First  Experiments  of  Fitch  and  Fulton  in  Steam 
Navigation.  Collections  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania,  vol.  i,  May, 
1851,  p.  34. 

*  So  early  as  March,  1785,  Washington  appears  to  have  been  much  interested 
in  the  experiments  of  Rumsey.  See  a  letter  of  G.  Washington  to  Hugh  William 
son,  March  15,  1785.  Rumsey  was  well  known  as  an  ingenious  man,  and  had 
from  time  to  time  invented  a  number  of  useful  things.  Some  of  these  are  favor 
ably  mentioned  in  the  Virginia  Gazette  for  December  16,  1787.  The  boat  and 
saw-miil  are  mentioned  in  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  September  10,  1788.  Fitch, 
a  year  later,  when  his  boats  were  running  from  Philadelphia  to  Bordcntown  and 
Trenton,  became  involved  in  a  pamphlet-war  with  Rumsey  as  to  priority  of  inven 
tion.  See  The  Original  Steamboat  Supported ;  or,  a  Reply  to  Mr.  James  Rum- 
sey's  Pamphlet,  showing  the  True  Priority  of  John  Fitch  and  the  False  Datings 
of  James  Rumsey,  Philadelphia,  1788.  See  Rumsey's  Short  Treatise  on  the  Appli 
cation  of  Steam,  1788.  Also,  A  Plan  wherein  the  Power  of  Steam  is  Fully  Shown 
by  a  new  constructed  Machine  for  Propelling  Boats  or  Vessels,  of  any  Burthen, 
against  the  most  Rapid  Streams  or  Rivers  with  great  Velocity.  By  James  Rum 
sey.  His  notice  of  patents  from  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  may  be  seen  in 
the  Freeman's  Journal,  October  28,  1789. 


436    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP,  iv, 

had  fractured  them,  and  the  broken  pieces  were  rudely  held 
together  by  bits  of  rags.* 

Far  less  notice  was  taken  of  these  experiments  of  Fitch 
than  their  importance  and  success  deserved.  The  attention 
of  men  of  all  sorts  was  turned  to  one  object,  and  to  one  alone, 
the  Federal  Convention.  From  the  day  in  May  when  that 
body  began  to  sit  with  closed  doors,  the  anxiety  of  the  multi 
tude  had  been  steadily  increasing,  and  had,  long  before  August 
came,  risen  to  fever  heat.  Boasts,  idle  conjectures,  prophe 
sies,  and  anxious  letters  filled  the  newspapers,  and  poured 
in  upon  the  delegates  from  all  parts.  The  conduct  of  the 
thirteen  States  was  likened  to  that  of  the  Prodigal  Son.  Each 
had,  it  was  said,  taken  of  the  portion  of  independence  that 
should  have  lodged  in  Congress,  and  wasted  it  in  riotous  living 
in  a  far  land.  They  were  now  coining  back,  burdened  with 
diseases  and  with  debt,  to  their  father's  house,  which  was  a 
Federal  Government.  Yet  a  little  while,  and  the  Federal  robe 
and  ring  would  be  put  upon  them,  the  fatted  calf  would  be 
killed,  and  every  city,  village,  farm-house,  and  cabin  in  the 
land  would  resound  with  joy,  since  the  States  that  were  dead 
were  alive  again  in  a  strong,  efficient  national  Government. f 
The  United  States  was  like  unto  an  old  man  with  thirteen 
sons  among  whom  he  had  divided  his  substance.  Twelve 
abode  with  him,  watched  over  their  goods,  and  proved  them 
selves  in  many  ways  good  and  faithful  sons.  But  the  thir 
teenth  had  gone  out  from  his  father's  house,  had  spent  his 
portion,  and  hanged  himself  by  his  garter  to  a  tree.;};  The 
convention,  it  was  asserted,  had  resolved  that  Rhode  Island 
should  be  considered  as  out  of  the  Union;  and  that  for  the 
share  of  the  national  debt  yet  due  from  her  she  should  be 
held  responsible.  Gentle  means  would  first  be  used  to  collect 
it ;  but  if  these  failed,  the  sum  should  be  exacted  of  her  by 
force.*  Many  plans  of  government,  it  was  believed,  had 
been  talked  of.  One  seemed  to  keep  the  form,  but  effectually 
destroyed  the  spirit,  of  democracy.  Another,  regarding  only 

*  Virginia  Gazette,  published    at  Winchester,   December   16,  1787.     Copied 
into  the  Middlesex  Gazette  or  Federal  Advertiser,  February  25,  1788. 

f  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  August  15,  1787.  \  Ibid.,  August  22,  1787. 

*  New  York  Packet,  June  15,  1787.     New  Jersey  Journal,  June  13,  1787. 


1787.  RUMOR  O.F  A  PROPOSED  MONARCHY.  437 

the  necessity  of  a  strong  executive  power,  openly  rejected 
even  the  semblance  of  a  popular  constitution.*  There  were 
plans  to  cut  the  States  into  three  republics,  f  and  plans  to  set 
up  a  King.  All  the  details  of  a  monarchy  closely  resembling 
that  of  England  had  been  arranged.  A  constitution  had  been 
drawn  up,  titles,  orders,  and  social  distinctions  provided  for, 
and  a  commission  was  soon  to  be  dispatched  to  lay  the  crown 
at  the  feet  of  George's  second  son. 

This  wild  talk,  which  ought  not  to  have  imposed  upon  a 
village  clown,  was  fervently  believed.  The  post-bags  came 
filled  with  letters  to  the  delegates,  reproaching  them  for  their 
wickedness,  or  begging  to  know  if  it  were  true.  To  these  one 
answer  was  invariably  given.  "While  we  cannot  affirma 
tively  tell  you  what  we  are  doing,  we  can  negatively  tell  you 
what  we  are  not  doing ;  we  never  once  thought  of  a  King."  J 
Emboldened  by  this  credulity,  some  Tories  and  malcontents 
of  Connecticut  drew  up  and  passed  round  for  signature  a 
paper  recommending,  half  in  jest,  half  in  earnest,  a  kingly 
government  for  the  States.  The  people,  it  set  forth,  had 
found  by  a  bitter  experience  that  they  lacked  wit  enough  to 
govern  themselves  ;  that  all  their  declamation  and  parade 
about  liberty,  republicanism  and  property  were  mere  stuff  and 
nonsense,  and  that  it  was  high  time  to  tread  backward  in  the 
path  they  had  walked  in  for  twelve  years.4*  The  monarch  of 
their  choice  was  the  young  Bishop  of  Osnaburgh,  second  son 
of  the  King  of  England,  and  who,  as  Duke  of  York,  came  not 
many  years  later  to  bear  a  great  part  in  a  famous  scandal.  || 
Others  ventured  to  express  the  hope  that,  whatever  the  con 
vention  should  do,  the  name  Congress  would  at  least  be  laid 
aside.  The  word  was,  they  protested,  associated  in  their 

*  New  Jersey  Journal,  June  20,  1787.     New  York  Packet,  June  15,  1787. 
f  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  June  27,  1787.  t  Ibid.,  August  22,  1787. 

*  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  August  15,  1787.    Pennsylvania  Journal,  August  22, 
1787.     Writing  from  New   Haven,  the  day  before  the  convention  broke  up  at 
Philadelphia,  Colonel  Humphreys  says :  "  It  seems,  by  a  conversation  I  have  had 
here,  that  the  ultimate  practicability  of  introducing  the  Bishop  of  Osnaburgh  is 
not  a  novel  idea  among  those  who  were  formerly  termed  Loyalists.     Ever  since 
the  peace  it  has  been  occasionally  talked  of  and  wished  for.     Yesterday  where  I 
dined,  half  jest,  half  earnest,  he  was  given  as  the  first  toast."     Colonel  Hum 
phreys  to  Hamilton,  New  Haven,  September  16,  1787. 

|j  See  Life  of  George  IV.,  by  Percy  Fitzgerald. 


£38    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  IT. 

minds  with  weakness,  instability,  and  scanty  power.  It  was 
quite  impossible  to  mention  it  without  calling  up  the  recollec 
tion  of  continental  money,  of  the  forty-for-one  measure,  of 
tender  laws,  and  of  a  huge  pendulum  vibrating  for  two  years 
between  Annapolis  and  New  York.* . 

But  the  guesses  of  the  multitude  went,  as  usual,  wide  of 
the  mark.  Rhode  Island  was  not  ruled  out  of  the  Union. 
The  States  were  not  divided.  The  name  of  Congress  was  not 
abolished.  No  attempt  was  made  to  set  up  a  King.  A  wise 
and  just  Constitution  was,  however,  patiently  and  laboriously 
worked  out.  To  those  who  looked  forward  so  eagerly  to  the 
breaking  up  of  the  convention  the  result  of  its  deliberations 
alone  was  given.  The  steps  that  led  to  it  were  most  wisely 
hidden  from  them.  Indeed,  a  new  generation  sprang  up,  and 
the  secret  process  of  fabrication  was  still  unknown  to  the 
world.  But  the  journals  of  the  convention  have  now  be 
come  public  property.  The  notes  of  the  debates  taken  down 
by  Madison  and  Fates  have  been  published,  and  we  are  per 
haps  in  possession  of  all  the  information  concerning  the 
secret  session  of  that  body  that  will  ever  be  collected.  This 
information  is  far  from  complete ;  yet  it  is  quite  enough  to 
enable  us  to  form  a  tolerably  correct  idea  of  the  labors  of  a 
most  remarkable  assemblage  of  men,  to  whom,  under  God, 
we  owe  our  liberty,  our  prosperity,  our  high  place  among  the 
nations. 

The  serious  work  of  the  convention  began  on  the  morning 
of  Tuesday,  the  twenty-ninth  of  May.  When  the  roll  had 
been  called,  and  the  delegates  of  eight  States  had  answered  to 
their  names,  Governor  Randolph  rose  in  his  place  and  ad 
dressed  the  House  in  a  long  and  vigorous  speech.  He  pointed 
out,  precisely  and  clearly,  the  manifold  faults  of  the  Con 
federation,  declared  it  to  be  quite  unequal  to  preserving  the 
safety,  honor,  and  welfare  of  the  country,  and  besought  all 
who  heard  him  to  aid  in  setting  up  a  strong  and  energetic 
Government.  He  then  unrolled  a  manuscript  which  he  held 

*  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  August  22,  1787.  For  some  of  the  arguments  then 
in  use  among  the  supporters  of  the  convention,  see  To  the  Freemen  of  the  United 
States  in  Support  of  a  Federal  Government.  On  the  Means  of  Promoting  a  Fed 
eral  Sentiment  in  the  United  States. 


1787.         VIRGINIA  AND   SOUTH   CAROLINA  PLANS.  439 

in  his  hand,  and  read  a  series  of  resolutions.  These,  he  said, 
he  offered  as  leading  principles  for  a  good  system  of  govern^ 
ment.  He  did  not  intend  them  for  a  Federal  Government. 
He  meant  them  for  a  strong,  consolidated  Union,  in  which  the 
idea  of  States  should  be  almost  done  away  with. 

His  resolutions,  which  became  known  in  the  course  of  the 
debates  as  the  Virginia  plan,  were  fifteen  in  number,  and 
were  not  his  own  work.  The  seven  delegates  from  Virginia 
had  indeed  framed  them  with  great  care  and  labor,  and  had 
chosen  Randolph  to  lay  them  before  the  House  ;  for  he  was, 
of  the  seven,  the  highest  in  political  rank,  and  renowned  as  a 
man  skilled  in  the  art  of  public  speaking.  The  substance  of 
the  plan  was  that  the  right  of  suffrage  each  State  had  in  Con 
gress  should  be  proportional  to  the  sum  of  money  it  paid  into 
the  Treasury  as  quota,  or  to  the  number  of  free  inhabitants  of 
its  soil;  that  Congress  should  consist  of  two  branches;  that 
the  people  should  elect  the  members  of  the  one;  that  the 
State  Legislatures  should  choose  the  members  of  the  other ; 
that  there  should  be  a  national  executive  elected  by  the  na 
tional  Legislature ;  a  national  judiciary,  to  hold  office  during 
good  behavior ;  and  that  a  republican  government  and  a  right 
to  the  soil  should  be  guaranteed  to  each  State. 

When  he  had  read  the  resolutions  he  moved  that  the  House 
go  into  a  committee  of  the  whole  on  the  state  of  the  Union, 
and  sat  down.  Some  debate  followed,  but  the  motion  was 
carried,  and  the  next  day  set  as  the  time. 

And  now  Pinckney  rose  and  presented  a  second  plan  for  a 
Federal  Government,  which  he  had  himself  made  ready.  Of 
this,  unhappily,  no  record  has  come  down  to  us.  It  was  in 
deed  referred  to  the  committee  of  the  whole ;  but  from  that 
time  forth  no  entry  of  any  kind  concerning  it  is  to  be  found 
on  the  inmates.  When,  therefore,  thirty-two  years  later,  the 
Secretary  of  State  was  preparing  the  journals  of  the  conven 
tion  for  publication,  he  wrote  to  Pinckney  for  a  copy  of  his 
plan,  and  received  in  reply  a  document  that  was  inserted  in 
the  printed  journals  and  has  been  copied  by  biographers  and 
historians  as  the  South  Carolina  plan.  But  the  instrument 
sent  Mr.  Adams  is  not  in  any  sense  a  copy  of  the  instrument 
laid  before  the  convention. 


440    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION".   CHAP.  ir. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  thirtieth  the  clerk  read  the 
order  of  the  day,  and  the  House  went  into  a  committee  of  the 
whole  on  the  state  of  the  Union.  Randolph  moved  his  first 
resolution.  Some  discussion  followed,  in  the  course  of  which 
the  younger  Morris  pointed  out  that  it  was  unnecessary,  as 
the  next  resolution  would  not  agree  with  it.  Randolph  then 
withdrew  it,  and  moved  in  its  place :  that  the  union  of  the 
States  merely  federal  would  not  fulfil  the  purposes  of  the  Arti 
cles  of  Confederation  ;  that  no  treaty  between  the  States  would 
accomplish  it ;  and  that  a  national  government  ought  to  be  set 
up  consisting  of  supreme  judicial,  legislative,  and  executive 
powers.  To  this  member  after  member  rose  to  offer  an  amend 
ment.  But  as  soon  as  Pinckney  could  get  a  hearing  he  said 
that,  if  the  motion  were  agreed  to,  it  seemed  to  him  all  work 
was  done.  The  instructions  of  the  delegates  in  general  were 
to  revise  the  existing  Articles  of  Confederation,  and  to  alter  or 
amend  them,  as  the  case  might  be.  To  flatly  declare  that  they 
were  insufficient,  and  could  not  be  amended  or  improved,  was, 
he  thought,  to  put  the  matter  out  of  the  reach  of  the  powers 
of  the  House.  The  argument  had  its  weight.  The  first  and 
second  resolutions  were  dropped  and  the  third  taken  up.  The 
word  "  supreme "  required  explanation.  Was  it,  some  one 
asked,  intended  to  destroy  the  State  governments  ?  The  an 
swer  was,  Yes,  to  a  limited  extent.  When  the  powers  of  the 
national  Government  clashed  with  those  of  the  States,  the 
States  must  give  way.  The  question  was  called,  and  six  States 
voted  in  the  affirmative.  Connecticut  voted  in  the  negative. 
New  York  was  divided.  For  there  were  few  questions  on 
which  Hamilton  could  agree  with  Lansing  and  with  Yates. 

The  resolution  next  in  order  was  that  the  system  of  repre 
sentation  was  unjust,  and  ought  to  be  based  on  quota  or  popu 
lation.  Mr.  Read  moved  that  it  be  postponed.  The  State  of 
Delaware  had,  he  said,  expressly  forbidden  her  delegates  to 
consent  to  any  change  in  the  system.  He  would  therefore,  if 
the  question  passed,  feel  it  his  duty  to  withdraw.  Madison 
spoke  on  the  other  side  ;  but  it  was  finally  agreed  to  postpone. 

On  the  following  day,  which  was  Thursday,  the  last  of 
May,  the  New  Jersey  delegation  came  in.  When  the  creden 
tials  had  been  examined  and  the  members  taken  their  seats,  it 


1787.  DEBATE   ON  THE   VIRGINIA  PLAN.  441 

was  moved  that  the  national  Legislature  ought  to  consist  of 
two  branches.  This  was  passed.  The  fourth  resolution  of 
the  Virginia  plan,  that  the  members  of  the  first  branch  should 
be  chosen  by  the  people,  was  then  taken  up,  and  a  spirited  dis 
cussion  provoked.  Gerry,  who  could  not  forget  the  late  scenes 
of  rebellion  in  Massachusetts,  told  the  House  that  the  ills  of 
the  country  came  from  an  excess  of  democracy.  "  The  peo 
ple,"  said  he,  "  do  not  want  virtue,  but  are  the  dupes  of  pre 
tended  patriots.  In  Massachusetts  it  has  been  fully  established 
by  a  long  experience  that  they  are  daily  led  into  the  most 
baneful  measures,  and  made  to  hold  the  most  dangerous  opin 
ions,  by  the  false  reports  of  designing  men,  and  which  no  one 
on  the  spot  can  deny."  Sherman,  of  Connecticut,  was  of  the 
same  mind.  The  people,  he  thought,  should  have  as  little 
to  do  directly  with  the  Government  as  possible.  They  wanted 
knowledge,  and  were  constantly  liable  to  be  misled.  Mason 
spoke  against  this.  He  would  allow  there  was  too  much  de 
mocracy.  But  he  would  hold  to  the  belief  that  the  first 
branch  of  the  national  Legislature  ought  to  be  the  popular 
branch.  It  ought  to  be  the  American  House  of  Commons,  if 
he  might  use  the  words.  It  ought  to  come  directly  from  the 
mass.  When,  after  a  long  debate,  the  vote  was  taken,  the  Ayes 
had  it  by  six  to  two.  Connecticut  and  Delaware  were  divided. 
The  fifth  of  Randolph's  resolutions,  and  the  sixth,  that 
there  ought  to  be  a  national  executive  to  hold  office  for  seven 
years,  were  soon  disposed  of.  But  when  the  number  of  the 
executive  came  up  for  discussion,  the  wildest  opinions  were 
expressed.  For  three  days  no  other  business  was  touched  on, 
and,  before  the  debate  was  over,  almost  every  delegate  had 
spoken.  Randolph  was  for  dividing  the  country  into  three 
sections,  and  having  an  executive  from  each.  Sherman  urged 
a  single  executive  and  a  council  of  revision.  Rutledge  and 
Wilson,  a  single  executive  without  the  council.  This,  the 
Governor  of  Virginia  protested  with  much  warmth,  would 
never  do.  It  would  be  a  monarchy,  and  the  temper  of  the 
people  would  never  brook  a  King.  The  requirements  of  a 
good  executive  were  vigor,  dispatch,  and  responsibility,  and 
he  for  one  did  not  see  why  they  could  not  be  found  in  three 
men  as  well  as  in  one.  Every  one,  Wilson  said,  knew  that  a 


442    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  IY. 

single  executive  was  not  a  King.  One  fact  had  been  over 
looked.  Yet  it  had  great  weight  with  him.  The  thirteen 
States  agreed  in  few  things ;  but  they  had  all  agreed  in  plac 
ing  a  single  executive  at  the  head  of  Government.  Not  a 
State  could  be  named  that  had  ever  for  a  moment  thought  of 
three  heads.  In  such  a  triumvirate  he  saw  nothing  but  fierce 
and  undying  animosity.  They  would  be  sure  to  fall  out ; 
public  business  would  be  sure  to  be  stopped ;  the  poison  would 
spread  to  the  people,  and  everywhere  there  would  be  jealousy, 
suspicion,  and  contention.  When  the  ballot  was  counted, 
seven  were  for  a  single  executive  and  three  against. 

It  was  now  Monday,  the  fourth  of  June.  The  rest  of  the 
week  was  taken  up  with  discussing  the  eighth  resolution, 
and  amendments  to  the  fifth  and  fourth.  On  Saturday  the 
great  debate  of  the  session  began.  The  cause  was  a  motion 
by  Patterson  to  reconsider  that  clause  of  the  second  resolution 
which  bore  on  the  question  of  representation.  Judge  Brear- 
ly  spoke  first.  The  matter  was  an  important  one.  On  the 
principle  that  each  State  was  sovereign,  the  Articles  of  Con 
federation  had  given  to  each  one  vote  in  Congress.  I  If  the 
States  were  to  remain  sovereign,  a  right  of  suffrage  on  any 
other  plan  was  unjust.  '  Were  population  the  basis,  there 
would  be  ninety  votes  :  one  for  Georgia  and  sixteen  for  Vir 
ginia.  Was  this  just?  Not  in  the  least.  Such  a  system 
must  defeat  itself  or  end  in  despotism.  If  there  must  be  a 
national  Government,  there  was  but  one  thing  to  do.  Lay  the 
map  of  the  Confederation  on  the  table,  wipe  out  the  State- 
lines,  mark  down  new  ones,  such  that  each  State  should  have 
the  same  representation,  and  then  a  government  on  the  pro 
posed  plan  would  be  a  just  one,  and,  not  before.  It  is  strange 
so  shrewd  a  lawyer  should,  even  in  the  heat  of  debate,  have 
been  misled  by  so  foolish  a  piece  of  reasoning.  Had  he 
stopped  for  a  moment  to  think,  he  must  have  seen  that  it 
would  be  quite  as  impossible  to  keep  up  an  equal  distribution 
of  population  as  to  maintain  an  equal  distribution  of  wealth. 

Patterson  spoke  next  on  the  same  side.  "Let  us,"  said 
ne,  "  consider  with  what  powers  we  are  clothed."  He  then 
moved  to  have  the  credentials  of  the  Massachusetts  delegates 
read.  This  was  done.  "By  these,"  continued  he,  "and  by 


1787.  QUESTION   OF  REPRESENTATION.  443 

others,  it  is  plain  that  our  business  here  is  to  go  over  the  Arti 
cles  of  Confederation  and  to  alter  or  amend  them  in  such  wise 
as  we  judge  best.  Can  we  on  this  ground  form  a  national 
Legislature  ?  I  fancy  not.  We  are  met  in  this  room  as  the 
representatives  of  thirteen  independent  States  for  Federal 
purposes.  Can  we  then  form  one  government  and  destroy  the 
sovereignty  of  the  very  States  that  have  sent  us  here  to  make 
that  sovereignty  yet  more  secure  ?  I  fancy  not.  "What,  pray, 
is  a  property  representation  ?  Is  a  man  with  four  thousand 
pounds  to  have  forty  times  as  many  votes  as  a  man  with  a  hun 
dred  pounds?  And  what,  pray,  is  a  representation  founded 
on  numbers  ?  If  State  sovereignty  is  to  be  kept  up,  shall  I 
submit  the  welfare  of  New  Jersey  with  five  votes  in  a  coun 
cil  where  Virginia  has  sixteen  ?  Suppose,  as  was  in  agitation 
before  the  late  war,  America  had  been  represented  in  the 
British  Parliament,  and  had  sent  over  the  sea  two  hundred 
delegates.  What  would  they  have  availed  against  six  hun 
dred  ?  I  tell  you  we  should  have  been  as  much  enslaved  as 
when  without  representation.  Nay,  more  enslaved,  for  we 
should  then  have  been  without  even  the  hope  of  redress. 
Some  one  has  said  this  national  Government  is  to  act  on  indi 
viduals  and  not  on  States.  Cannot  a  Federal  Government  be 
framed  to  act  in  the  same  way  ?  I  say  it  can.  I  will  never 
consent  to  the  proposed  plan.  I  shall  make  all  the  interest 
against  it  I  can.  Neither  my  State  nor  myself  will  ever  sub 
mit  to  despotism  or  to  tyranny." 

The  angry  tones  and  menace  of  the  speaker  had  their 
effect,  and  the  moment  he  was  done  Wilson  rose.  He  re 
minded  the  gentleman  from  New  Jersey  that  a  majority,  nay, 
a  minority,  of  the  States  had  a  right  to  confederate  with  each 
other,  and  the  rest  might  do  as  they  pleased.  Numbers  were 
the  true  basis  of  representation.  It  was  absurd  to  say  that 
New  Jersey  with  her  population  should  have  the  same  weight 
and  the  same  influence  in  the  national  councils  as  Pennsylva 
nia.  "  I  say,"  said  he,  "  it  is  unjust.  I  never  will  confederate 
on  such  a  plan.  The  gentleman  from  New  Jersey  is  candid. 
He  declares  his  opinions  boldly.  I  commend  him  for  it.  I 
will  be  equally  candid.  I  say,  again,  I  never  will  confederate 
on  his  principles." 


444    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

The  discussion  was  then  postponed,  and  the  remaining  res 
olutions  of  the  Virginia  plan  taken  up,  till,  on  the  morning  of 
the  thirteenth  of  June,  it  was  found  that  all  had  been  disposed 
of.  It  was  then  moved  that  the  committee  of  the  whole  report 
to  the  House.  This  was  done,  and  the  House,  after  hearing  the 
report,  put  off  the  consideration  of  it  to  the  next  day.  But  at 
this  stage  of  the  debate  Patterson  asked  leave  to  bring  in  a 
new  and  totally  different  plan.  The  leave  was  given,  and  on 
Friday,  the  fifteenth  of  June,  he  read  to  the  convention  the 
New  Jersey  plan. 

A  few  members  were  found  hardy  enough  to  support  it. 
But  the  men  whose  legal  learning  made  them  the  leaders  of 
the  debate  spoke  strongly  against  it.  Randolph  denied  that 
the  delegates  had  not  power  to  form  a  government  on  the  Vir 
ginia  plan.  Wilson  drew  a  close  comparison  between  the  two. 
"  The  only  difference  between  the  plan  from  Virginia  and  the 
plan  from  New  Jersey  is,"  said  he,  "  in  a  word,  this :  Virginia 
proposes  two  branches  to  the  Legislature,  Jersey  one.  Virginia 
would  have  the  legislative  power  derived  from  the  people,  Jer 
sey  from  the  States.  Virginia  would  have  a  single  executive, 
Jersey  more  than  one.  By  the  Virginia  plan  the  national 
Legislature  can  act  on  all  national  concerns.  By  the  New 
Jersey  plan,  only  to  a  limited  extent.  By  the  one,  the  Legis 
lature  can  negative  all  State  laws.  By  the  other,  the  execu 
tive  can  compel  obedience  by  force."  Much  had  been  said 
about  the  New  Jersey  plan  agreeing  with  the  powers  of  the 
convention.  The  argument  had  no  force  with  him.  For 
himself,  he  believed  his  powers  extended  to  everything  or  to 
nothing.  He  had  a  right,  and  was  free  to  support  either  plan, 
or  to  reject  both.  The  people  cried  out  for  relief  from  their 
ills,  and  looked  up  with  fond  hopes  to  the  National  Conven 
tion.  They  expected  a  national  Government,  and  such  the 
Virginia  plan  would  give  them. 

To  this  stage  in  the  debates  Hamilton  had  hardly  said  a 
word  except  aye  and  nay.  His  position  was  in  truth  a  trying 
one.  He  was  almost  the  youngest  man  on  the  floor  of  the 
House,  and  had  been  forced  on  almost  every  question  to  vote 
against  his  colleagues,  Lansing  and  Yates.  But  the  time  had 
now  come,  he  thought,  to  speak  out  boldly  and  plainly.  On 


1787.    MADISON  DISCUSSES  THE  NEW  JERSEY  PLAN.      445 

the  morning  of  the  eighteenth  of  June,  therefore,  in  a  long 
and  able  speech,  he  went  over  the  good  and  bad  points  of  the 
plans  before  the  convention.  He  liked  neither  of  them  much, 
and  he  liked  the  Jersey  plan  the  least.  It  was  the  old  Articles 
of  Confederation  with  a  few  new  patches.  It  was  pork  still 
with  a  change  of  sauce.  He  then  read  to  the  House  eleven 
articles,  which  were  not  to  be  considered  as  a  plan,  bat  which 
he  would,  some  time  in  the  future,  move  as  amendments  to 
the  Virginia  plan. 

The  best  debate  on  the  Jersey  plan,  however,  was  made  by 
Madison.  Patterson,  in  presenting  his  resolutions,  had  dwelt 
much  on  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  and  the  duty  of  every 
State  to  obey  them.  Not  much  notice  was  taken  of  the  argu 
ment  at  the  time.  But  when,  on  the  nineteenth  of  June,  the 
first  resolution  of  the  Jersey  plan  was  taken  up  for  discussion, 
Madison  refuted  him  in  a  few  words.  It  was  quite  true  that 
all  the  States  had  agreed  to  the  Articles  of  Confederation.  Yet 
these  very  articles  declared  that  the  infraction  of  one  of  them 
by  a  single  State  broke  up  the  compact.  Had  not  such  an  in 
fraction  been  made  ?  Did  not  New  Jersey,  said  he,  with  sour 
pleasantry,  flatly  refuse  to  obey  a  lawful  requisition  of  Con 
gress  ?  The  States  were  forbidden  to  make  wars  and  treaties. 
Yet  had  not  Georgia  made  wars  and  concluded  treaties  with 
the  Creeks  ?  Had  not  Maryland  and  Virginia  entered  into  a 
partial  compact'?  Had  not  Pennsylvania  and  'New  Jersey  set 
bounds  to  Delaware  ?  Had  not  Massachusetts  at  that  very  mo 
ment  a  great  body  of  troops  in  pay  ?  Many  of  the  States  had 
infringed  the  rights  of  individuals,  had  issued  paper  money, 
and  established  ways  of  paying  debts  differing  from  the  forms 
of  contract.  Were  not  these  infractions  of  the  articles  and  acts 
of  tyranny?  And  what  check  did  the  Jersey  plan  put  on 
these  ?  None.  It  was  indeed  provided  that  when  a  State  dis 
obeyed  it  should  be  made  to  obey.  But  how  would  military 
coercion  work  ?  The  small  States  could  easily  be  brought  to 
obedience  or  crushed.  But  what  if  the  great  States  proved  re 
fractory  ?  Was  the  gentleman  so  sure  that  he  could  by  force 
effect  submission?  Suppose,  again,  as  he  had  threatened,  no 
plan  could  be  agreed  to,  what  then  would  become  of  the  little 
States?  Would  Delaware  and  New  Jersey  be  safe  against 


446    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

Pennsylvania  ?  Would  Rhode  Island  be  secure  from  Massachu 
setts  ? 

As  soon  as  he  was  seated,  King  moved  that  the  committee 
rise,  report  the  New  Jersey  plan  to  be  inadmissible,  and  recom 
mend  that  of  Virginia.  It  was  carried  by  a  vote  of  seven  to 
three,  one  State  being  divided.  The  plan  was  now  formally 
before  the  convention,  and  the  next  week  was  spent  in  an 
amicable  discussion.  Should  the  national  Legislature  consist 
of  one  branch  or  two?  Should  there  be  one  executive  or 
three  ?  Should  the  members  of  the  first  branch  be  twenty-five 
years  old,  or  thirty  ?  Should  they  be  paid  by  the  States  or  the 
nation  ?  Should  they  serve  for  four  years,  for  six  years,  or  for 
seven  ?  Such  were  the  questions  that  took  up  the  attention  of 
the  House.  Not  till  the  twenty-seventh,  of  the  month  was  that 
resolution  reached  which,  from  the  opening  to  the  close  of  the 
convention,  was  never  once  mentioned  without  exciting  a 
violent  display  of  sectional  feeling,  and  a  long  and  fierce 
debate.  The  language  of  the  first  clause  was  that  the  right 
of  suffrage  in  the  national  Legislature  ought  not  to  be  accord 
ing  to  the  rule  established  in  the  Articles  of  Confederation, 
but  according  to  some  other.  The  great  speech  was  from 
Martin. 

Martin  was  a  fluent  speaker,  a  ready  debater,  and  had  raised 
himself,  by  what  his  friends  called  his  eloquence,  to  the  high 
place  of  Attorney-General  of  Maryland.  He  had  acquired, 
from  nature  or  by  art,  the  habit  of  saying  much,  yet  meaning 
little.  No  lawyer  who  contended  with  him  in  the  courts 
could,  from  such  meagre  evidence,  produce  so  long  an  argu 
ment.  No  one  knew  better  how,  under  the  appearance  of 
clearness,  to  be  most  obscure ;  and  on  this  occasion  he  made 
full  use  of  his  powers.  For  three  hours  he  addressed  the 
House.  Indeed,  when  the  time  for  adjournment  came  he  was 
still  speaking,  and  was  forced  to  finish  his  oration  on  the  fol 
lowing  day. 

When  at  last  he  was  done,  Lansing  moved  to  strike  out  the 
word  "not."  "I  oppose  the  motion,"  cried  Madison.  "How 
can  any  of  the  States  be  endangered  by  an  adequate  representa 
tion  ?  There  has  been  much  talk  of  a  combination  of  the  great 
States  against  the  little.  What  likelihood  is  there  of  such  a 


1787.  DEBATE   ON  REPRESENTATION.  447 

thing  ?  "What  inducements  ?  Where  that  similarity  of  customs, 
manners,  religion  so  necessary  ?  If  there  can  possibly  be  a  di 
versity  of  interest,  it  is  in  the  case  of  the  three  large  States. 
They  are  far  apart.  Their  trade  is  different.  Their  religions 
are  unlike.  Massachusetts  is  deeply  engaged  in  the  fisheries 
and  the  carrying  trade.  The  staple  of  Pennsylvania  is  wheat 
and  flour.  Virginia  cultivates  tobacco.  Can  such  States  ever 
form  a  combination  ?  Does  not  the  history  of  every  country 
on  the  face  of  the  earth  disprove  it  ?  Is  it  not  the  strong  States 
that  fall  out,  and  the  weak  ones  that  combine?"  He  then 
went  on,,  after  his  fashion,  to  illustrate  his  remarks  by  passages 
drawn  from  the  history  of  Sparta,  of  Athens,  of  the  House  of 
Bourbon,  the  House  of  Austria,  and  with  examples  taken  from 
the  conflicts  of  Carthage  and  of  Rome. 

But  the  force  of  his  argument  was  lost  on  Gorham.  He 
could,  he  said,  for  one,  see  no  difficulty  in  supposing  a  union 
of  interests  among  the  States.  In  Massachusetts  there  were 
once  three  provinces.  They  had  united,  and  no  man  could 
now  find  the  faintest  trace  of  the  old  distinctions.  Thus  was 
it  that  the  little  States  would  unite  in  a  General  Government. 
New  Jersey  'in  particular,  lying  between  Pennsylvania  and 
New  York,  could  never  become  a  commercial  State.  It  would 
be  to  her  interests  to  be  divided,  and  some  day  part  would  go 
to  Pennsylvania  and  part  to  New  York.  Nor  could  Massachu 
setts  long  remain  a  great  State.  The  Province  of  Maine  would 
soon  become  independent  of  her.  So  too  with  Pennsylvania. 
Her  western  possessions  must  in  time  be  made  into  a  new 
State.  Gorham  sat  for  Connecticut. 

On  the  motion  to  agree  to  Lansing's  amendment  the  Nays 
had  it  by  a  vote  of  six  to  four,  one  State,  as  usual,  being  divided. 
The  question  to  agree  to  the  original  motion  was  then  put  by 
the  chair  and  carried  in  the  affirmative,  the  Ayes  counting  six, 
the  Nays  four.  This  disposed  of  for  the  time  being,  it  was 
moved  that  in  the  second  branch  each  State  should  have  an 
equal  vote.  But  again  the  State-rights  men  flew  into  a  passion, 
another  rancorous  debate  occupied  all  Friday  and  Saturday,  nor 
was  it  till  Monday  that  a  vote  of  five  to  five  was  reached.  In 
deed,  at  no  time  during  the  sitting  of  the  convention  were  the 
members  so  angry  and  the  debate  as  personal  and  bitter  as  on 


THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

the  afternoon  of  Saturday,  the  thirtieth  of  June.  At  one  time 
Wilson,  who  had  quite  lost  his  temper  and  his  patience,  was 
heard  to  exclaim :  "  If  the  minority  withhold  their  consent  to 
the  new  plan,  if  they  will  have  their  own  way  or  go  out  from 
the  Union,  then  let  them  go.  The  opposition  to  the  plan  is  as 
twenty-two  to  ninety  in  the  general  scale ;  not  a  fourth  part 
oi  the  Union.  Shall  three  fourths  be  ruled  by  one  fourth? 
Shall  three  fourths  give  up  their  right  for  the  support  of  an 
artificial  being  called  State-interest  ?  For  whom  do  we  make 
a  constitution  ?  Is  it  for  men  ?  Or  is  it  for  imaginary  beings 
called  States?"  "The  last  speaker,"  said  Ellsworth,  "asserts 
that  a  General  Government  must  depend  on  the  equal  suffrages 
of  tho  people.  Where  is  or  where  was  there  a  confederacy  ever 
formed  where  equality  of  voices  was  not  a  fundamental  princi 
ple  ? "  "  Lycia,"  said  Madison,  "  was  such  a  one."  He  then  wrent 
on  to  attack  the  arguments  of  the  Connecticut  delegate  one  by 
one.  The  last  speaker,  said  he,  has  appealed  to  our  good  faith 
to  observe  the  Articles  of  Confederation.  "  I  have  already  im 
peached  many  States  of  an  infraction  of  them.  I  have  not 
spared  my  own  State,  nor  can  I  justly  spare  his.  Did  not  Con> 
necticut  refuse  her  compliance  to  a  Federal  requisition  ?  Has 
she  paid  a  shilling  into  the  Treasury  for  two  years  past  ?  Does 
this  look  like  the  observance  of  a  solemn  compact  ? "  This  was 
too  much,  and  in  a  moment  Ellsworth  was  on  his  feet  clamor 
ing  to  be  heard.  "  My  State,"  said  he,  "  has  all  along  been 
strictly  Federal,  and  I  appeal  to  your  Excellency,"  turning  to 
Washington,  "  for  the  truth  of  it  during  the  war.  The  mus 
ter-rolls  will  show  that  she  had  more  troops  in  the  field  than 
even  the  State  of  Virginia.  We  strained  every  nerve  to  raise 
them.  We  feel  the  effect  of  it  to  this  day.  But  we  defy  any 
gentleman  to  show  that  we  ever  refused  a  Federal  requisition. 
If  she  has  proved  delinquent,  it  has  been  through  inability  only, 
and  that  is  no  more  than  others  have  been  without  the  same 
excuse." 

At  this  point  Gunning  Bedford,  one  of  the  five  who  sat  for 
Delaware,  broke  in.  The  great  States,  it  seemed  to  him,  went 
on  as  if  the  eyes  of  the  smaller  ones  were  utterly  blind.  Im 
partiality  with  them  was  out  of  the  question.  The  Virginia 
plan  was  their  political  creed,  and  they  were  bound  to  support 


JY8T.  QUESTION  OF  REPRESENTATION  449 

it,  right  or  wrong.  Even  the  petty  State  of  Georgia,  with  an 
eye  to  her  future  wealth  and  greatness ;  South  Carolina,  puffed 
up  with  the  possession  of  money  and  negroes,  and  North  Caro 
lina  too,  were  all  three  on  the  side  of  the  great  States.  It  was 
said  they  never  could  coalesce.  Their  interests  were  different. 
Yet  even  then  they  were  firmly  united  in  a  scheme  of  interest 
and  ambition.  Did  they  think  to  crush  the  smaller  States  ? 
Sooner  than  be  ruined,  there  were  foreign  powers  who  would 
take  them  by  the  hand.  "  Take  a  foreign  power  by  the  hand  ! " 
cried  King.  "  I  am  sorry  he  mentioned  it.  I  hope  he  will  be 
able  to  excuse  it  to  himself  on  the  score  of  passion." 

It  was  now  quite  plain  that  nothing  could  be  done  in  the 
convention.  So  much  had  been  said,  and  so  many  members 
had  been  upon  their  feet  in  the  course  of  the  long  debates, 
that  the  sentiments  of  each  State  were  well  known.  On  the 
one  side  were  the  powerful  and  opulent  commonwealths  of 
Massachusetts,  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia,  the  two  Carolinas 
and  Georgia,  insisting  that  representation  in  both  branches  of 
the  national  Legislature  should  be  according  to  population  or 
to  wealth.  On  the  other  side  were  the  four  small  States  of 
Connecticut,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  and  Maryland  insisting 
with  equal  vehemence  that  the  right  of  suffrage  in  each  branch 
should  be  equal.  New  York  was  divided.  New  Hampshire 
and  Rhode  Island  were  not  represented. 

In  this  pass,  Pinckney  came  to  the  relief.  He  moved  a 
select  committee  to  take  into  consideration  both  branches  of 
the  Legislature.  But  scarcely  had  it  been  put  by  the  chair 
when  Martin  flew  into  a  passion.  "  It  is  again  attempted," 
said  he,  "  to  compromise.  You  must  give  each  State  an  equal 
suffrage,  or  our  business  is  at  an  end."  "  It  seems  to  me,"  an 
swered  Sherman,  "  we  have  got  to  a  point  where  we  cannot 
move  one  way  or  the  other.  Such  a  committee  is  necessary 
to  set  us  right."  Nor  did  he  express  more  than  the  opinion 
of  the  House.  For  when  the  question  to  agree  was  put,  but 
two  dissenting  votes  were  cast.  After  eleven  members  had 
been  balloted  for,  the  House  adjourned  for  three  days. 

But  the  meetings  of  the  committee  were  no  more  harmoni 
ous  than  the  meetings  of  the  convention.  Again  the  propo 
sition  to  compromise  was  brought  up,  and  again  resisted.  You 

VOL.  i. — 30 


4:50    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

propose,  such  was  the  language  used  by  the  opposition,  to 
yield  to  an  equal  representation  in  the  second  branch,  pro 
vided  we  will  consent  to  an  unequal  representation  in  the  first. 
We  will  not.  There  is  no  merit  in  it.  It  is  merely  offering, 
after  a  long  and  bitter  struggle  to  put  both  feet  on  our  neck, 
to  take  one  off  if  we  will  peacefully  suffer  one  to  remain. 
But  we  well  know  that  you  cannot  keep  even  that  foot  on 
unless  we  are  willing,  and  that,  having  one  firmly  planted, 
you  will  be  able  to  put  on  the  other  when  you  please.  You 
will  grow  rich.  You  will  grow  populous.  And  with  this  in 
crease  of  men  and  money  will  come  more  power.  What  se 
curity  can  you  give  that  you  will  not  then  force  from  us  that 
equality  in  the  second  branch  which  you  now  deny  to  be  our 
right,  and  submit  to  from  necessity  ?  Will  you  tell  us  that  we 
ought'  to  trust  you  because  you  now  enter  into  a  solemn  com 
pact  with  us?  You  have  made  such  a  compact  before,  and 
now  treat  it  with  the  utmost  contempt.  Will  you  now  make 
an  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Being,  and  call  on  him  to  guarantee 
your  observance  of  this  compact  ?  This  also  you  have  done 
before  for  the  observance  of  the  very  Articles  you  now  so 
wantonly  violate. 

Before  the  committee  rose,  however,  a  better  spirit  pre 
vailed,  and  a  report  was  drawn  up.  This  recommended  that 
each  State  should  be  given  one  representative  in  the  first 
branch  of  the  Legislature  for  every  forty  thousand  inhabit 
ants  free  or  bound  to  servitude  for  a  number  of  years,  and  a 
three-fifths  representation  for  all  others  except  Indians ;  that 
all  money-bills  should  originate  in  the  first  branch,  and  not  be 
amended  in  the  second ;  that  no  money  should  be  drawn  from 
the  Treasury  except  by  bills  originating  in  the  first  branch ; 
and  that  in  the  second  branch  each  State  should  have  an 
equal  vote. 

On  the  fifth  of  July  the  House  listened  to  the  report  of 
their  committee.  Some  ill-natured  remarks  were  made,  and 
some  apologies  offered  for  hasty  speeches  on  the  previous  days. 
But  with  those  exceptions  the  debate  was  orderly  and  the 
report  well  received.  The  clause  fixing  the  representation 
at  one  for  each  forty  thousand  free  inhabitants  was,  how 
ever,  recommitted.  The  next  day  the  committee  reported 


1787.  CHOICE  OF  THE  EXECUTIVE.  451 

that  in  their  judgment  the  first  House  of  Eepresentatives 
should  consist  of  fifty-six  members.  This  was  again  recom 
mitted.  It  was  then  observed  that  two  delegates  were  not  in 
their  seats.  Yates  and  Lansing  had,  in  a  fit  of  ill-temper, 
quitted  the  convention  and  gone  home  to  New  York. 

On  the  ninth  of  the  month  the  number  of  representatives 
for  the  first  House  was  fixed  at  sixty-five.  The  debating  then 
went  smoothly  on  till  the  seventeenth,  when  the  manner  of 
choosing  the  executive  came  up.  The  younger  Morris,  who 
was  firmly  attached  to  popular  government,  declared  that  the 
executive  ought  not  to  be  elected  by  the  national  Legisla 
ture.  If  it  were  in  the  powrer  of  that  body  both  to  choose  him 
and  impeach  him,  he  would  assuredly  be  its  creature.  His 
election  would  be  the  work  of  intrigue,  of  faction,  of  cabal. 
The  people  ought  to  make  the  choice.  Then  some  man,  dis 
tinguished  for  great  public  services  or  fine  character,  a  man, 
if  he  might  so  express  himself,  of  continental  reputation, 
would  be  raised  to  the  office.  Sherman  replied.  It  was  be 
yond  the  scope  of  his  narrow  mind  to  suppose  that  the  time 
would  ever  come  when  the  means  of  communication  with 
which  he  was  familiar  would  be  supplanted  by  new  and  better 
ones,  of  which  the  world  had  then  no  idea.  He  spoke,  there 
fore,  for  election  by  the  national  Legislature.  The  people, 
said  he,  can  never  know  enough  about  the  character  of  a;  man, 
and  besides,  they  will  never  give  a  majority  of  votes  to  any 
one  man.  They  will  vote  for  some  one  of  their  own  State  or 
their  own  town.  On  the  same  side  was  Mason.  To  his  mind, 
to  leave  the  choice  of  a  chief  magistrate  to  the  people  was  as 
unnatural  as  to  leave  a  choice  of  colors  to  a  blind  man. 

When  the  question  of  a  popular  election  was  put,  but  one 
State  voted  yes.  When  the  question  of  a  choice  by  the  na 
tional  Legislature  was  put,  all  voted  yes.  But  the  matter  was 
not  suffered  to  rest.  Again  and  again  it  came  up,  till  at  last, 
a  week  later,  it  was  moved  and  carried  that  the  executive  be 
chosen  by  the  national  Legislature,  that  he  serve  for  seven 
years,  and  be  ineligible  to  re-election.  Two  days  after,  the 
articles  agreed  to  were  referred  to  a  committee  of  detail.  The 
House  then  adjourned  till  the  sixth  of  August. 

On  that  day,  as  the  members  took  their  seats,  they  received 


452    THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.   CHAP.  iv. 

each  a  copy  of  the  draft  of  the  Constitution  printed  in  large 
type  on  a  broadside.  For  another  month  the  debating  went 
on,  a  few  changes  and  additions  were  made,  and  on  the  eighth 
of  September  the  House,  convinced  that  the  Constitution  could 
not  be  improved,  referred  it  to  a  committee  to  revise  the  word 
ing  and  arrange  the  articles. 

When  Monday,  the  seventeenth  of  September,  came,  the 
convention  assembled  for  the  last  time,  and  the  Constitution, 
as  we  now  have  it,  was  laid  upon  the  table  for  signature.  For 
some  minutes  nothing  was  said.  Then  Franklin,  about  to 
close  the  last  national  service  of  his  life,  got  up,  with  a  paper 
in  his  hand,  as  if  to  speak.  But  his  voice  and  his  body  were 
far  too  weak,  and  he  handed  the  paper  to  Wilson,  who  read  it. 
The  document  was  highly  characteristic  of  the  man.  He  had, 
he  said,  lived  a  long  time,  and  had  often  been  obliged  to 
change  his  opinion  on  matters  on  which  he  was  once  sure  he 
was  right.  The  older  he  grew,  therefore,  the  more  apt  was  he 
to  doubt  his  own  judgment,  and  to  pay  more  respect  to  the 
judgments  of  others.  Steele,  in  one  of  his  dedications,  told  the 
Pope  that  the  only  difference  between  the  Church  of  England 
and  the  Church  of  Rome  in  their  opinions  on  the  certainty  of 
their  doctrine  was  this :  The  Church  of  Rome  was  infallible. 
The  Church  of  England  was  never  in  the  wrong.  He  then 
went  on,  in  his  habitual  way,  to  narrate  an  apt  story.  A  cer 
tain  French  lady,  in  a  quarrel  with  her  sister,  said  :  "  I  do  not 
know  how  it  is,  sister,  but  I  meet  with  nobody  but  myself  that 
is  always  in  the  right ;  i  il  rfy  a  que  moi  qui  a  toujours  raison?  " 
In  this  sentiment  he  agreed  to  the  Constitution,  with  all  its 
faults,  if  it  had  any.  lie  had  expected  no  better,  and  he  was 
not  sure  it  was  not  the  best.  He  hoped  that  each  member  who 
still  had  objections  would  doubt  a  little  of  his  own  infallibility 
and  put  his  name  to  the  instrument.  He  then  proposed  as  a 
form,  "  Done  in  convention  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the 
States."  Governeur  Morris  drew  up  this  ambiguous  form,  in 
hopes  of  gaining  the  dissenting  members,  and  put  it  into 
Franklin's  hands,  that  it  might  have  the  better  chance  of  suc 
cess.  But  sixteen  refused,  and  began,  one  after  another,  to 
excuse  themselves.  Gerry  feared  a  civil  war.  Randolph 
knew  that  nine  States  would  never  ratify.  Washington  was 


1787.     THE   JOURNAL  COMMITTED  TO   WASHINGTON.       453 

the  first  to  sign.  It  was  long  popularly  believed  that,  as  he 
stood  beside  the  table  with  his  hand  upon  the  Constitution,  he 
held  up  the  pen  and  said  :  "  Should  the  States  reject  this  excel 
lent  Constitution,  the  probability  is  that  opportunity  will  never 
again  offer  to  cancel  another  in  peace ;  the  next  will  be  drawn 
in  blood."  *  When  he  had  signed,  the  other  members  w^ent 
up,  one  by  one,  in  the  geographical  order  of  the  States,  begin 
ning  at  the  East.  As  the  last  members  were  affixing  their 
names,  Franklin,  looking  toward  the  President's  chair,  back  of 
which  a  rising  sun  happened  to  be  painted,  said  to  a  few  who 
sat  near  him,  that  painters  had  found  it  difficult  in  their  art  to 
distinguish  a  rising  from  a  setting  sun.  "I  have,"  said  he, 
often  and  often,  in  the  course  of  the  session,  and  the  vicissi 
tude  of  my  hopes  and  fears  as  to  its  issue,  looked  at  that  be 
hind  the  President  without  being  able  to  tell  whether  it  was 
rising  or  setting.  But  now,  at  length,  I  have  the  happiness  to 
know  that  it  is  a  rising  and  not  a  setting  sun." 

Before  the  convention  rose,  it  was  ordered  that  the  jour 
nal  should  be  left  in  the  keeping  of  the  President  until  such 
time  as  the  new  Government  should  see  fit  to  intrust  it  to 
other  hands.  If  it  were  published,  an  evil  use,  it  was  feared, 
would  be  made  of  it.  If  it  were  destroyed,  no  evidence  would 
then  exist  with  which  to  refute  the  false  charges  of  political 
enemies.  The  President  was  also  bidden  to  draw  up  a  letter 
of  transmittal  and  send  it,  with  the  Constitution,  to  Congress. 
This  he  accordingly  did.f 

*  Pennsylvania  Journal,  November  14,  1787.  New  York  Packet,  November 
20,  1787. 

•f  My  authorities  for  the  proceedings  of  the  convention  are :  Madison's  De 
bates,  Yates's  Secret  Debates,  and  the  Journal  of  the  Convention.  Many  other 
valuable  papers  were  wantonly  burned  by  Secretary  Jackson,  as  he  himself  states 
in  his  letter  to  Washington. 


454  THE  CONSTITUTION  BEFORE  THE  PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 


CHAPTER  Y. 

THE  CONSTITUTION  BEFORE  THE  PEOPLE. 

THE  ship  Constitution,  as  the  friends  of  that  instrument 
delighted  to  call  it,  was  thus  fairly  launched.  From  that  mo 
ment  dates  the  existence  of  the  two  great  national  parties 
which,  under  many  different  names  and  on  many  different  plat 
forms,  have  ever  since  continued  to  struggle  for  supremacy  in 
the  State.  In  all  parts  of  the  land,  it  is  true,  men  were, 
after  the  return  of  peace,  divided  by  their  political  opinions 
into  at  least  two  classes.  Everywhere  there  were  Imposters 
and  Non-imposters ;  Hard-money  men  and  Soft-money  men; 
patriots  who  favored  the  strengthening,  and  State-righters 
who  urged  the  weakening  of  the  power  of  Congress.  But 
these  classes  were  in  no  sense  national  parties.  They  had  no 
organization,  they  had  no  leaders,  no  platforms,  no  watchwords, 
no  names.  They  were  purely  local,  and  the  followers  of 
the  one  as  of  the  other  would  have  denied  with  vehemence 
that  they  were  anything  else  than  stanch  and  honest  Whigs. 
When,  however,  the  people  were  bidden  to  choose  between  the 
old  Articles  of  Confederation  and  the  new  Constitution,  be 
tween  a  sham  union  of  the  States  and  a  strong  national  Gov 
ernment,  a  change  came  about.  An  issue  was  raised.  Some 
thing  was  at  stake  ;  and  the  Whig  party  was  quickly  rent  in 
twain.  Leaders  appeared  ;  standards  were  set  up.  The  name 
of  Whig  fell  for  a  time  into  disuse,  and,  under  the  appellation 
of  Federalist  and  Antifederalist,  the  two  sections  of  a  once 
harmonious  party  drew  farther  and  farther  apart  and  began  a 
contest  on  a  national  scale. 

The  conflict  opened  in  Pennsylvania.  Such,  indeed,  was 
the  zeal  which  animated  the  little  band  of  Federalists  in  that 


1787.  THE   CONSTITUTION"  IN  PENNSYLVANIA.  455 

State  that,  twenty  hours  after  Congress  had  formally  sub 
mitted  the  Constitution  to  the  people,  a  call  for  a  convention 
was  hurried  through  the  Assembly.*  The  matter  had,  it  is 
true,  been  under  debate  the  day  before,  and  had  been  marked 
by  the  h'rst  show  of  party  violence.  Late  in  the  morning  ses 
sion  of  Friday,  September  twenty-eighth,  1787,  Clymer,  who 
sat  for  Philadelphia,  and  had  been  one  of  the  delegates  to  the 
Federal-  Convention,  rose  in  his  place  and,  without  previous 
notice,  moved  a  State  Convention  to  consider  the  Constitu 
tion.  The  Antifederalists  were  astounded.  The  session  of  the 
Assembly  was  all  but  over.  A  new  election  was  at  hand,  and 
they  had  therefore  never  for  a  moment  supposed  that  the 
instrument  would  be  taken  up  by  the  House  so  soon  to  ad 
journ.  Their  plan  was  to  make  it  a  question  in  the  ensuing 
canvass,  and  to  secure,  if  possible,  such  a  majority  of  men  of 
their  own  mind  in  the  next  Legislature  as  would  prevent  the 
hated  document  being  submitted  to  the  people.  Clymer's 
motion  accordingly  found  them  off  their  guard,  and  forced  to 
combat  it  with  such  plausible  arguments  as  came  to  them  at 
the  instant.  This  haste,  they  said,  was  both  unseemly  and  un 
parliamentary.  The  Convention  had  sent  the  Constitution  to 
Congress.  Congress  had  not  yet  sent  it  to  the  States,  and  till 
this  was  formally  done  it  was  simply  indecent  to  know  any 
thing  about  it.'  It  was,  too,  a  constant  practice  with  the  mem 
bers,  when  any  business  of  great  moment  was  to  come  up,  to 
give  notice  and  have  it  made  the  order  of  the  day  some  time 
beforehand.  Besides,  no  bill  was  ever  passed  without  at  least 
three  readings.  This  was  not  a  loose  but  a  strict  rule  of  the 
House ;  so  strict,  indeed,  that  not  even  the  building  of  a 
bridge  or  the  laying  out  of  a  road  could  be  determined  till 
the  formality  had  been  gone  through  with.  Yet  here  were 
members  clamoring  for  the  passage  of  a  most  important  bill, 
sprung  upon  the  House  without  the  usual  notice  and  without 
the  usual  readings.  It  was  all  wrong.  The  House  would  on 
the  following  day  break  up,  and  the  whole  matter  should  be 
left  to  the  next  Assembly.  But  their  arguments  were  of  no 
use.  Their  voices  were  drowned  amid  cries  of  "  question," 
and  when  the  Speaker  put  it,  of  the  sixty-two  members  pres- 

*  New  York  Packet,  October  9,  1787. 


456          THE   CONSTITUTION   BEFORE   THE   PEOPLE.    CHAP.  r. 

ent,  forty-three  voted  for  and  nineteen  against  it.  The  House 
then  adjourned  till  four  in  the  afternoon. 

The  rage  of  the  nineteen  flamed  high.  It  was  impossible 
for  them  to  find  words  wherewith  to  express  their  indigna 
tion.  They  met  hastily,  declared  that  if  they  could  not  de 
feat  the  attempt  to  call  a  convention  by  their  votes  they  could 
by  their  absence,  gave  a  solemn  pledge  not  to  return  to  the 
House,  and  kept  it. 

When  four  o'clock  came,  but  forty-five,  two  more  than 
those  who  had  voted  for  the  convention,  were  in  their  seats. 
This  number  was  two  less  than  a  quorum,  and  till  a  quorum 
was  assembled  no  business  could  be  done.  After  waiting 
some  time,  and  no  more  members  coming  in,  the  Speaker  com 
manded  the  sergeant-at-arms  to  go  out  and  summon  the  absent 
ones.  He  went,  was  gone  a  long  while,  and  when  he  came 
back  was  questioned  at  the  bar.  He  had,  he  said,  gone  to  the 
house  of  one  Boyd,  had  there  found  Whitehill,  Smilie,  Antis, 
and  some  other  noted  Aiitifederalists,  had  summoned  them  in 
the  name  of  the  House,  and  received  in  reply  a  firm  assurance 
that  they  would  on  no  account  obey.*  Nothing  was  left  the 
Speaker  but  to  adjourn  the  Assembly  till  Saturday. 

Meanwhile,  news  of  what  had  happened  in  the  State- 
House,  and  the  names  of  the  nineteen  seceding  members, 
spread  fast  through  the  town.  All  that  evening  and  till  late 
in  the  night  crowds  filled  the  taverns  and  coffee-houses,  or 
stood  on  the  street-corners,  angrily  discussing  the  situation  and 
forming  plans  for  the  morrow.  The  Antifederalists  were  tri. 
umphant  and  defiant.  The  Federalists  were  much  disheart 
ened.  Some  were  for  concession.  But  a  few,  more  zealous 
than  the  rest,  determined  that  a  quorum  should  be  formed, 
come  what  might.  If  two  of  the  dissenters  could  not  be  per 
suaded  to  go,  they  should  be  made  to  go.  The  two  chosen 
for  this  treatment  were  James  McCalmont,  who  sat  for  Frank 
lin,  and  Jacob  Miley,  who  represented  Dauphin.  Early  on 
the  morning  of  Saturday  a  great  crowd  gathered,  accordingly, 
about  their  lodgings,  broke  open  the  doors,  laid  hold  upon 
them  and  dragged  them,  cursing  and  struggling,  through  the 
streets  to  the  State-House.  There  they  were  forced  into  their 

*  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  October  3,  1787. 


1787.  PENNSYLVANIA   CALLS   A  CONVENTION.  457 

places  and  held  down  in  their  seats  with  clothes  disordered 
and  torn,  and  faces  white  from  rage.* 

When  the  roll  was  called,  forty-seven  members  answered  to 
their  names.  This  made  a  quorum,  and  the  House  so  formed 
went  on  with  the  business  of  the  day. 

Much  time  was  spent  in  reviling  the  behavior  of  the  nine 
teen,  in  lauding  the  merits  of  the  Constitution,  and  discussing 
the  fitness  of  naming  an  early  day  to  consider  it.  Some  were 
for  having  the  election  of  delegates  to  the  State  Convention 
held  at  the  same  time  as  the  annual  elections,  then  nine  days 
distant.  But  the  first  Tuesday  in  November  was  moved  as 
election-day,  and  the  thirtieth  of  the  same  month  for  the 
meeting  of  the  convention.  When  the  question  was  put,  the 
Ayes  had  it  by  a  vote  of  forty-five  to  two.  Scarce  was  the 
result  announced  when  the  crowd  that  filled  the  halls  and 
lobby  and  stood  about  the  doors,  testified  its  approval  by 
three  hearty  cheers,  and  set  off  to  spread  the  news.  The 
shops  were  shut,  business  ceased,  and  the  bells  in  all  the 
churches  were  rung  through  the  rest  of  the  day.  Before  the 
debate  was  over  on  Saturday  an  express  came  spurring  into 
town  with  word  that  Congress  had  submitted  the  Constitution 
to  the  States.  He  had  been  sent  on  by  Bingham,  one  of  the 
delegates  at  New  York.f 

The  first  of  October  was  now  come,  and  the  day  on  which 
the  delegates  were  to  be  chosen  was  but  six  weeks  away. 
The  whole  State  was  in  commotion.  The  inhabitants  of  every 
town  and  hamlet  from  the  Susquehanna  to  the  Ohio  were 
arrayed  against  each  other  as  Federalists  or  Antifederalists, 
supporters  or  detractors  of  the  Constitution.  The  canvass 
would,  under  any  circumstances,  have  been  conducted  with 
much  acrimony  and  zeal.  The  State  was  one  of  the  largest 
and  most  populous  in  the  Union.  Within  her  borders  lay  the 
greatest  and  richest  city  of  the  western  world,  and  that  city, 
had  for  many  years  been  the  seat  of  the  national  Govern 
ment.  Each  party  knew,  therefore,  that  the  eyes  of  the  whole 

*  See  the  statement  of  their  treatment  as  published  under  their  signatures 
in  Pennsylvania  Gazette,   October    10,    1787. 
17*7. 

f  New  York  Packet,  October  9,  1787. 


458          THE   CONSTITUTION  BEFORE  THE  PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

country  were  on  it,  and  that  failure  or  success  would  be 
the  undoing  or  the  making  of  its  friends  in  the  neighboring 
States.  But  a  peculiar  bitterness  was  given  to  the  electioneer^ 
ing  by  the  fact  that  the  principles  of  government  as  laid  down 
in  the  Federal  Constitution  were  almost  precisely  the  opposite 
of  the  principles  of  government  laid  down  in  the  State  Consti 
tution.  Pennsylvania  was  at  that  time  one  of  the  few  com 
monwealths  of  America  where  men  had  been  bold  enough  and 
weak  enough  to  make  trial  of  the  wild  theory  of  government 
Turgot  had  propagated  and  Condorcet  had  praised.  The  State 
Constitution  provided  for  but  one  legislative  body.  The  Fed 
eral  Constitution  provided  for  two.  The  President  of  Penn 
sylvania  was  chosen  by  the  Assembly.  The  President  of  the 
United  States  was  to  be  chosen  by  electors.  The  State  Gov 
ernment  was  a  centralized  democracy.  The  national  Govern 
ment  wras  to  be  a  Republic  of  Republics.  Every  voter, 
therefore,  who  helped  to  send  a  Federalist  to  the  convention, 
declared  the  Government  under  which  he  lived  to  be  bad  in 
form,  and  so  it  was. 

It  may  well  be  supposed  that,  while  so  much  was  at  stake, 
the  two  parties  strove  with  unwonted  fury.  The  newspa 
pers  were  not  large  enough  to  contain  half  the  addresses, 
thoughts,  letters,  observations,  that  poured  in  from  Cato  and 
Brutus,  Cincinnatus  and  Biscayanus.  One  of  the  earliest  of 
these  was  an  address  from  sixteen  of  the  assemblymen  who 
had,  wThen  the  call  for  the  State  Convention  was  under  de-' 
bate,  left  their  seats  and  refused  to  return.  It  bore  date 
the  twenty-ninth  of  September,  and  was  the  first  'formal 
protest  against  the  Constitution.  They  had,  the  signers  said, 
stood  out  against  the  instrument  because  the  House  had 
not  received  any  official  information  from  Congress'  touch 
ing  it,  because  the  delegates  sent  to  the  Federal  Conven 
tion  were  all  of  them  Philadelphians,  were  none  of  them 
fit  to  represent  the  landed  interest  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
were  almost  to  a  man  strongly  opposed  to  the  Constitution 
of  the  State.* 

*  Address  of  the  subscribers,  members  of  the  late  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania,  to  their  constituents.  Independent 
Gazetteer,  October  3,  1787. 


1T8T.          THE  EEPLIES  TO   THE   ANTIFEDERALISTS.  459 

A  dozen  replies  came  forth  instantly.*  Every  one  of  them 
branded  the  statements  of  the  address  as  wicked  and  malicious 
falsehoods.  One  of  the  writers  declared  that  he  was  at  a  loss 
what  most  to  be  surprised  at,  the  impudence  of  the  lie,  or  the 
boldness  of  the  insult  to  the  understanding  of  the  people.  An 
official  submittal  of  the  Constitution  to  the  State,  addressed 
by  the  hand  of  the  Secretary  of  Congress  to  the  Speaker  of 
the  Assembly,  had  most  assuredly  arrived  and  been  made 
known  to  the  House,  not  indeed  at  the  time  of  the  first 
debate,  but  -before  the  adjournment  on  Saturday  evening. 
They  knew  such  official  information  had  come.  They  knew 
it  was  in  the  possession  .of  the  Speaker.  They  were  careful, 
therefore,  to  keep  away.  Where  were  they  likely  to  get  offi 
cially  such  information  as  they  pretended  to  want?  In  the 
public  streets  \  In  Major  Boyd's  house,  from  the  Major's 
hand?  or  in  the  State-House,  and  from  the  Speaker  ?f 

It  was  astonishing,  another  writer  said,  what  short  memo 
ries  some  of  the  rebels  had.  No  name  at  the  foot  of  the 
address  was  in  bolder  hand  than  that  of  William  Findley. 
Did  Mr.  Findley  forget  that  he  was  actually  offered  a  seat  in 
the  convention,  that  he  was  put  in  nomination,  that  he  told 
the  House  it  would  not  suit  him,  as  no  wages  were  to  be  joined 
to  it,  and  that  withal  he  received  two  votes  ?  If  it  were  such 
a  shocking  thing  to  send  rich  Philadelphians  to  the  conven 
tion,  why  did  not  the  sixteen  vote  for  Mr.  Findley,  who  was 
from  the  country  ?  How  did  it  happen  that  Robert  Morris 
and  George  Clymer  and  Thomas  Mifflin,  all  citizens  of  Phila 
delphia,  received  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  Assembly  ? 
What  were  the  sixteen  about  ?  Why  did  Mr.  Whitehill, 
whose  name  was  also  among  the  signatures  of  the  rebels,  rise 
in  his  seat  and  say  that  the  choice  ought  to  be  confined  to  the 
great  city  because  it  would  be  too  costly  for  country  members 
to  attend  ?  J  This  pertinent  reply  was  signed  by  six  members 
of  the  Assembly,  and  was  held  by  the  Federalists  to  be  final. 

*  See  Remarks  on  the  Address,  October  6,  1787.  To  the  Freemen  of  Penn 
sylvania,  by  Federal  Constitution,  October  10,  1787.  To  the  Freemen  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  by  One  of  the  People. 

f  To  the  Freemen  of  Pennsylvania,  October  10,  1787. 

\  Remarks  on  the  Address,  October  6,  1787.  Independent  Gazetteer.  Seej 
also,  American  Museum  for  October,  1787. 


4:60          THE   CONSTITUTION   BEFOKE  THE   PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

Indeed,  the  reasons  given  by  the  deserters  were  soon  met 
with  such  overwhelming  evidence  of  untruth  that  they  ceased 
to  be  seriously  considered,  and  began  to  be  made  sport  of. 
Whitenill,  Findley,  Judge  Bryan,  and  their  friends,  were  nick 
named  the  Antifederal  Junto.  The  place  where  the  sergeant- 
at-arms  had  found  them  was  called  Boyd's  Cellar,  and  to  their 
address  a  mock  protest  came  out.*  One  squib  told  of  a  farmer 
near  Philadelphia  who  had  sixteen  sheep,  but  sold  one  when 
he  read  the  address,  remarking  that  he  did  not  want  anything 
about  his  farm  to  remind  him  of  the  sixteen  addressing  assem 
blymen,  f  Another  suggested  the  names  Washingtonians  for 
the  Federalists  and  Shayites  for  the  Antifederalists. 

In  the  midst  of  this  newspaper  war  the  annual  elections 
came  on.  It  was  some  time  before  the  returns  from  the  back 
counties  were  known  ;  but  when  the  last  had  been  heard  from, 
it  appeared  that  the  Federalists  had  been  eminently  successful. 
They  had  lost  nothing  and  had  gained  much.  "Whitehill,  who 
had  signed  the  address  as  one  of  the  sixteen,  and  had  been  put 
up  for  a  seat  in  the  council,  was  rejected  by  the  voters  of 
Cumberland  county.  Samuel  Dale,  whose  name  was  also  at 
the  end  of  the  address,  and  Antis,  who  made  one  of  the  Junto 
at  Major  Boyd's,  shared  a  like  fate  in  Northumberland.  All 
three  were  replaced  by  avowed  supporters  of  the  Constitu 
tion.  J 

But  the  election  to  which  the  two  parties  looked  forward 
with  mingled  feelings  of  hope  and  fear  was  still  remote. 
Four  weeks  were  to  come  and  go,  and  during  these  weeks  the 
Constitution  was  scrutinized  with  extreme  jealousy.  The  ob 
jections  of  the  Antifederalists  were  many  and  weak.  The 
new  plan  was,  in  the  first  place,  they  complained,  not  merely, 
as  it  ought  to  be,  a  confederation  of  States,  but  a  government 
of  individuals.  The  sovereignty  of  the  States  was  destroyed 
in  its  most  precious  parts.  The  form,  indeed,  of  a  republican 


*  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  October  10,  1787. 

f  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  October  10,  1787.  See,  also,  a  coarse  poem,  in  Hudi- 
brastic  metre,  called  "On  the  running  away  of  the  Nineteen  Members  of  Assembly 
from  the  House."  Pittsburg  Gazette,  November  3,  1787. 

\  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  October  17,  1787.  Just  before  the  election,  posters 
were  put  up  in  all  the  public  places  of  the  county  denouncing  Antis  and  Dale,  and 
likening  them  to  Satan  on  the  Mount. 


1787.  OBJECTIONS  TO  THE  CONSTITUTION.  461 

government  was  guaranteed  to  each  by  express  words ;  but 
any  one  who  would  read  the  instrument  carefully,  and  not 
suffer  his  understanding  to  be  clouded  with  a  multitude  of 
fine  phrases,  could  see  that  it  was  the  form,  and  not  the 
substance,  that  was  promised.  The  most  baleful  results  were 
certain  to  come.  Either  the  Union,  cemented  with  so  much 
blood  and  treasure,  would  go  down  in  a  bitter  struggle,  or 
the  sovereignty  of  the  States  would  be  gathered  by  silent 
encroachments  into  one  huge  aristocracy.  For  was  it  not 
clear  that  if  two  powers  were  given  equal  command  over  the 
purse  of  the  people,  they  would  fight  for  the  spoils  ?  Was 
it  not  clear  that  the  weaker  would  in  the  end  be  forced 
to  yield  to  the  stronger?  This  power  the  new  Congress  was 
to  have.  Not  only  could  it  overawe  the  States,  but  it  could 
reach  down  and  lay  hold  on  the  life,  the  liberty,  the  property 
of  the  meanest  citizen  in  the  land.  Yet  there  was  no  safe 
guard,  no  bill  or  declaration  of  rights.  Trial  by  jury,  too,  that 
sacred  bulwark  of  liberty,  was  done  away  with  in  civil  cases, 
while  the  liberty  of  the  press  was  not  secured.  In  a  word, 
every  check  to  the  ambition  of  wicked  and  intriguing  men  had 
been  studiously  removed.  There  were  to  be  no  more  annual 
elections,  there  was  to  be  no  more  rotation  in  office.*  There 
was  to  be  a  standing  army  kept  up  in  time  of  peace ;  a  Prus 
sian  militia ;  general  search-warrants ;  excise  laws ;  custom 
house  officers  ;  tide-waiters  and  cellar-rats ;  a  free  importation 
of  negroes  for  one-and-twenty  years ;  poll-taxes  for  the  heads 
of  the  people  if  they  chose  to  wear  them,  and  death  if  they 
dared  to  complain.f 

To  these  strictures  some  temperate  and  well-considered  an 
swers  were  put  forth  by  the  Federalists.  It  is  idle,  said  one 
pamphleteer,  to  discuss  the  need  of  a  central  government.  We 
have  tried  separate  governments  quite  long  enough  to  see  and 
to  feel  that  they  are  at  best  puny  and  weak.  It  is  likewise  idle 

*  These  popular  arguments  against  the  Constitution  are  clearly  stated  under 
twenty-three  heads  in  a  paper  called  "  Objections  to  the  Proposed  Plan  of  Federal 
Government.  By  an  officer  of  the  late  continental  army."  See,  also,  George 
Mason's  Objections  to  the  Federal  Constitution.  New  York  Packet,  November  30, 
1787.  And  R,  H.  Lee's  Objections  in  New  York  Journal,  December  24, 1787.  They 
were  answered  in  detail  by  "  Plain  Truth." 

f  See  Independent  Gazetteer,  October  6,  1787. 


462          THE   CONSTITUTION  BEFORE  THE   PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

to  discuss  the  right  of  the  convention  to  frame  the  document 
called  the  'New  Plan.  The  gentlemen  who  sat  at  Philadelphia 
have  not  gone  an  inch  beyond  their  authority.  The  States  did 
not  say  to  them,  Do  this,  and  do  not  do  that ;  amend  this  article 
and  strike  out  that.  They  were  simply  told  to  amend  the  Arti 
cles  of  Confederation.  And  amendment  in  parliamentary  lan 
guage  means,  if  it  means  anything,  add,  diminish,  or  strike  out 
the  whole.  The  Constitution  is  before  us.  We  have  crossed 
the  Rubicon  ;  and  the  question  now  to  be  decided  is,  Shall  we 
reject  the  New  Plan  and  break  up  into  twenty  petty  hordes 
and  classes,  each  with  a  chief  as  despotic  as  he  dares  to  be,  or 
shall  we  adopt  the  Plan,  unite,  and  form  one  strong  and  vigor 
ous  Government  ?  Adopt  by  all  means.  No  argument  lodged 
against  the  Constitution  is  sound.  Some  have  said  a  Bill  of 
Rights  ought  to  be  added.  It  can,  they  hold,  do  no  harm,  and 
may  do  much  toward  quieting  the  minds  of  the  people.  Not 
so.  It  is  not  at  all  sure  that  such  a  bill  will  be  quieting.  To 
do  so,  it  must  contain  everything  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States  claim  as  a  national  or  a  civil  right.  The  omission  of  a 
single  one  will  produce  more  heart-burning  and  dissent  than 
is  either  felt  or  made  on  the  present  occasion.  But  suppose 
the  convention  had  put  out  a  Bill  of  Rights.  Would  not  de 
signing  men  have  clamored  as  loudly  against  its  presence  as 
they  now  do  against  its  absence  ?  What !  they  would  have  ex 
claimed,  do  these  exalted  spirits  imagine  that  the  natural  rights 
of  man,  the  rights  for  which  we  have  fought  and  bled,  depend 
on  their  gracious  concession  ?  If  a  man  owns  six  hundred  acres 
of  land  and  sells  a  half,  must  he  take  a  release  from  the  buyer 
for  the  other  half  ?  No  !  Then  why  is  it  necessary  for  a  peo 
ple  to  have  a  grant  of  natural  rights  from  a  government  which 
derives  every  power  it  has  from  the  grant  of  the  people. 

But  nothing  can  please  these  grumblers.  They  mutter  that 
one  representative  for  thirty  thousand  men  is  too  small,  and 
call  the  House  of  Representatives  a  shred,  a  rag  of  represen 
tation.  Suppose  their  complaints  listened  to,  and  the  ratio 
raised  to  one  for  five,  ten,  twenty  thousand,  as  they  may  choose. 
What  then  will  happen?  They  will  instantly  cry  out  about 
the  expense  of  a  mobbish  Legislature.  What  is  it  that  makes 
men  think  there  is  safety  in  numbers  ?  Who  can  defend  large 


1787.  ADDKESS  OF  JAMES  WILSON.  463 

popular  assemblies  when  lie  thinks  how  they  are  chosen  ?  By 
our  system  we  are  as  likely  to  put  in  fools  as  wise  men,  and 
knaves  much  rather  than  honest  men.  Is  it  not  true  that  when 
such  assemblies  get  together  they  natter  and  cajole  the  people  ? 
To  sit  and  hear  the  speeches  made  in  such  bodies  one  would 
think  the  good  of  the  people  was  the  only  thing  in  pursuit. 
The  word  "  people "  is  sounded  from  all  parts  of  the  House. 
"The  people  wish  this."  "The  people  wish  that."  "The 
people,  Mr.  Speaker,  will  never  hear  of  the  other."  Yet  these 
same  demagogues  who  think  so  much  of  the  people  and  cry 
for  equal  rights  are  quite  willing,  nay,  insist,  that  the  one  hun 
dred  and  eighty  thousand  freemen  of  Maryland  shall  have  no 
more  to  say  in  the  affairs  of  Government  than  the  thirty  thou 
sand  of  Delaware,  and  that  the  great  State  of  Virginia  shall 
have  no  more  votes  than  the  little  State  of  Rhode  Island.* 

"While  the  idle  reasons  thus  answered  were  passing  from 
mouth  to  mouth  among  the  Antif  ederalists,  a  great  meeting  of 
the  Federalists  was  held  at  the  State-House.  Wilson  addressed 
to  them  a  speech  remarkable  among  the  speeches  of  that 
troubled  time  for  coolness  of  reasoning  and  dignity  of  lan 
guage.  It  had  been  urged  of  late,  he  said,  that  the  Constitu 
tion  was  of  pernicious  tendency,  because  it  tolerated  a  standing 
army  in  time  of  peace.  A  standing  army  had  always  been  a 
popular  topic  of  declamation.  Yet  he  knew  of  no  nation  in 
the  world  which  had  not  found  it  necessary  and  useful  to  keep 
up,  even  in  seasons  of  the  most  profound  tranquillity,  the  show 
of  armed  strength.  To  this  America  herself  had  been  no  ex 
ception.  Was  she  not  at  that  very  moment  maintaining  can 
tonments  along  the  banks  of  the  Ohio?  It  had  been  said 
again  that  trial  by  jury  was  in  civil  cases  abolished.  Tins 
was  a  mistake.  The  business  of  the  convention  that  framed 
the  Constitution  was  not  local,  but  general.  It  was  not  limited 
to  the  views  and  usages  of  a  single  State,  but  to  the  views  and 
usages  of  thirteen  States.  When,  therefore,  the  subject  was  up 


*  See  a  pamphlet  entitled,  Remarks  on  the  Proposed  Plan  of  a  Federal  Gov 
ernment,  addressed  to  the  Citizens  of  the  United  States  of  America,  and  particu 
larly  to  the  People  of  Maryland.  By  Aristides,  1788.  Also,  Thoughts  on  the 
Political  Situation  of  the  United  States  of  America,  in  which  that  of  Massachu 
setts  is  more  particularly  considered.  By  a  Native  of  Boston,  1788. 


464:          THE   CONSTITUTION   BEFORE   THE  PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

for  discussion,  the  members  had  found  themselves  beset  with 
difficulties  on  all  sides,  and  without  a  precedent  to  shape  their 
course.  Cases  open  to  a  jury  in  one  State  were  not  open  to  a 
jury  in  another.  In  none  were  admiralty  cases,  and  such  as 
were  agitated  in  courts  of  equity,  sent  to  a  panel  of  twelve 
jurors.  This  lack  of  uniformity  made  it  impossible  to  lay 
down  a  general  rule.  The  convention  had  accordingly  most 
wisely  refused  to  discriminate,  avowed  the  task  too  hard,  and 
left  it  as  it  stood  in  the  fullest  confidence  that  no  danger  could 
ensue.  He  then  went  on  to  take  up  the  other  objections  in 
their  order. 

The  speech  was  widely  read  and  called  forth  innumerable 
letters  in  reply.  The  Federalists  held  it  to  be  a  masterly  per 
formance,  quoted  it  upon  all  occasions,  and  went  so  far  as  to 
say  that  Mr.  Wilson  would  undoubtedly  fill  some  high  place 
under  the  new  Government.  The  Antifederalists  ridiculed 
it  as  "  a  train  of  pitiful  sophistries,  unworthy  of  the  man  who 
uttered  them  "  ;  *  and  as  they  could  not  refute  the  sophistries, 
attacked  the  man.  One  lampooner  abused  him  as  Jimmy. 
Another  vilified  him  under  the  name  of  James  de  Caledonia,  f 
A  third  summed  up  a  long  list  of  objections  with  a  sketch  of 
his  character,  which  was  a  strange  mingling  of  truth  with 
falsehood.  Mr.  Wilson,  he  allowed,  was  a  man  of  varied 
learning.  But,  unhappily  for  him,  he  was  never  to  be  found  on 
the  popular  side  of  any  question.  During  the  late  war  he  had 
narrowly  escaped  hanging  by  the  people.  The  whole  tenor  of 
his  political  behavior  had  always  been  strongly  tinged  with  the 
spirit  of  aristocracy.  His  talents  had  ever  been  devoted  to 
the  patrician  interest.  It  was  easy  to  see  in  his  lofty  strut  the 
lofty  mind  that  animated  him  ;  a  mind  abb  indeed  to  plan 
and  to  do  great  things,  but  which  unfortunately  could  descry 
nothing  great  beyond  the  pale  of  power  or  out  of  the  glow  of 
worldly  grandeur.  On  what  he  was  pleased  to  call  the  lower 
ranks  of  the  people,  on  popular  liberty  and  popular  assem 
blies,  he  looked  down  with  contempt.  Men  of  a  sublime  mind 
were,  he  thought,  born  of  a  different  race  from  the  other  sons 

*  Objections  to  the  Proposed  Plan  of  Federal  Government.     By  an  officer  of 
the  late  continental  army. 

f  Independent  Gazetteer,  March  4,  15,  18,  1788. 


1787.  "  GREAT  NAMES."  465 

of  men.  To  them,  and  to  them  alone,  had  high  heaven  given 
the  reins  of  government.  The  fact  that  the  new  plan  re 
ceived  the  warm  support  of  such  a  haughty  aristocrat  was 
the  best  reason  in  the  world  why  it  should  be  rejected  by  the 
people.* 

To  this  it  was  answered  that  Mr.  Wilson  was  not  the  only 
signer  of  the  Constitution.  His  was  but  one  in  a  long  list  of 
great  names.  Was  it  not  signed  by  a  Washington,  a  Franklin, 
a  Hamilton  ?  It  was  absurd  to  suppose  for  a  moment  that 
men  whose  patriotism  had  been  tried  by  the  hardest  of  all  tests 
and  never  found  wanting  would  on  a  sudden  turn  traitors. 
The  name  of  the  American  Fabius  was  of  itself  enough  to 
carry  conviction  to  the  mind  of  every  honest  Whig  who  hated 
tyranny,  and  whose  blood  boiled  at  the  thought  of  a  kingly 
'government.  Behold  him  in  1775  taking  leave  of  his  family 
and  his  home,  and  hastening  to  the  relief  of  a  distant  and  then 
unknown  part  of  America.  See  him  transforming  and  cement 
ing  a  band  of  rustics  into  an  army.  Follow  him  to  the  field  of 
battle,  and  see  him  first  in  danger  and  last  out  of  it.  Go  with 
him  into  Valley  Forge,  and  see  him  sharing  the  hunger,  the 
cold,  the  fatigue  of  every  soldier  in  the  camp.  Was  there 
ever  such  fortitude  in  adversity?  Was  there  ever  such  moder 
ation  in  the  hour  of  victory  ?  Such  tenderness  at  all  times  for 
the  civil  power  of  the  land?  But,  above  all,  behold  that 
glorious  scene  at  Annapolis  in  1783,  when  he  gave  up  his 
commission,  laid  his  sword  at  the  feet  of  Congress,  and  took 
up  the  toils  of  a  farmer  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac.  Was 
there  ever  such  a  man  ?  Where  was  the  villain  black-hearted 
enough  to  say  that  Washington  was  recommending  a  Constitu 
tion  ruinous  to  the  liberties  he  had  done  so  much  to  secure  ? 
Was  the  name,  too,  of  Franklin  to  go  for  nothing  ?  Think 
of  him,  in  the  seventieth  year  of  his  age,  cooped  up  for 
weeks  in  the  cabin  of  a  small  packet,  tossed  by  the  waves,  ex 
posed  to  danger  on  a  sea  crowded  with  British  cruisers.  See 
him  winning  from  France  that  aid  which  in  the  end  enabled 
America  to  close  the  war  with  glory  and  success.  See  him 
signing  the  treaty.  See  him  coming  home  bent  with  age, 

*  Objections  to  the  Proposed  Plan  of  Federal  Government.     By  an  officer  of 
the  late  continental  army. 
VOL.  i. — 31 


466          THE   CONSTITUTION  BEFORE  THE   PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

loaded  with  honors,  and  followed  by  the  applause  of  all  Eu 
rope.  Was  he  the  man  to  disgrace  a  long  life  spent  in  the 
service  of  his  country  by  urging  on  his  countrymen  a  bad  form 
of  government  ?  The  thing  was  absurd.  To  mention  it  was 
to  refute  it.* 

But  the  Antifederalists  were  not,  they  maintained,  to  be 
misled  by  the  glamour  of  great  names.  They  had  seen  names 
as  great  as  any  at  the  foot  of  the  Constitution  subscribed  to  the 
present  reprobated  Articles  of  Confederation.  Nay,  some  of 
the  very  men  who  had  put  their  hands  to  the  one  had  also 
put  their  hands  to  the  other.  Had  not  Roger  Sherman  and 
Robert  Morris  recommended  the  Confederation  ?  If  these  pa 
triots  had  erred  once,  was  there  any  reason  to  suppose  that  they, 
or  a  succeeding  set,  could  not  err  a  second  time  ?  Had  a  few 
years  added  to  their  age  made  them  infallible  ?  Was  it  not 
true  that  the  Federalists,  who  so  warmly  supported  the  new 
plan  and  would  force  it  down  the  throats  of  their  fellows  be 
cause  Franklin  had  signed  it,  affected  to  despise  the  Constitu- 
tion  of  Pennsylvania  which  was  the  work  of  no  one  so  much 
as  of  that  same  venerable  patriot  ?  f  What,  then,  was  the  value 
of  these  boasted  great  names  ?  Many  of  the  signers,  it  was  quite 
true,  had  done  noble  deeds.  No  one  could  forget  the  debt  of 
gratitude  the  continent  owed  to  the  illustrious  Washington. 
But  it  was  well  known  that  he  was  more  used  to  command  as 
a  soldier  than  to  reason  as  a  politician.  Franklin  was  too  old. 
As  for  Hamilton  and  the  rest  of  them,  they  were  mere  boys,  f 
These  unkind  remarks  called  forth  the  highest  indignation 
from  the  Federalists.  But  party  spirit  ran  high,  and  it  was  not 
long  before  one  of  their  antagonists  went  so  far  as  to  assert, 
that  to  talk  of  the  wisdom  of  the  Great  Commander  and  the 

*  Address  to  the  Freemen  of  Pennsylvania.  By  Federal  Constitution.  October 
10,  1787. 

f  See  Objections  to  the  Proposed  Plan  of  Federal  Government.  By  an  officer 
of  the  late  continental  army.  Philadelphia,  November  3, 1787.  American  Museum 
for  November,  1787,  p.  432. 

\  See  a  paper  entitled,  To  the  People  of  Connecticut.  New  Haven  Gazette, 
December,  1787.  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  December  26,  1787.  Address  to  all 
Federalists,  by  Curtius.  New  York,  September  27,  1787.  Remarks  on  the  late 
Insinuations  against  General  Washington.  American  Museum  for  October,  1787, 
p.  385. 


1787.  FEDERAL  SQUIBS.  467 

Great  Philosopher  was  to  talk  nonsense  ;  for  Washington  was 
a  fool  from  nature,  and  Franklin  was  a  fool  from  age,* 

It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  all  criticisms  on  the 
new  plan  of  government  were  in  a  serious  or  ill-natured  strain. 
~No  weapons  of  political  fence  were  then  such  favorites  with 
the  multitude  as  ridicule  and  satirical  allegory.  Men  who  had 
neither  the  patience  nor  the  wit  to  wade  through  the  scholarly 
arguments  of  the  Federalist,  and  who  could  see  nothing  but 
dry  facts  and  barren  statements  in  the  pleasing  letters  of 
Tench  Coxe,f  would  read  and  re-read  with  increasing  delight 
a  piece  of  foolery  by  Francis  Ilopkinson,  or  a  neatly  turned 
allegory  by  John  Mifflin.  Hundreds  of  carpenters  and  jour 
neymen  tailors  who  knew  nothing  about  the  needs  of  a  Dec 
laration  of  Rights,  or  the  fitness  of  a  national  judiciary,  were 
sure  to  have  their  minds  strongly  biassed  by  an  address  which, 
under  the  title  of  the  New  Eoof ,  or  the  New  Breeches,  set  forth 
the  good  points  or  the  bad  points  of  the  Constitution  in  the 
language  of  their  workshop  or  their  trade.  An  unsparing  uso 
was  therefore  made  of  these  means  of  instruction.  One  squib 
asserted  that  the  ministers  were  against  the  Constitution  to  a 
man  because  there  was  nothing  in  it  about  the  iniquity  of 
going  to  plays  and  the  duty  of  keeping  holy  the  Sabbath  day. 
Another  did  not  see  how  any  Protestant  could  support  it,  as 
it  gave  both  Jews  and  Catholics  an  equal  chance  to  become 
President.;};  A  third  represented  that  while  it  was  bad  enough 
to  be  without  a  Bill  of  Rights,  it  was  much  worse  to  be  without 
a  bill  guaranteeing  the  right  to  eat  and  drink.  A  Turk  re 
marked  that  he  had  read  the  Constitution  without  his  spectacles, 
and  was  much  taken  with  the  likeness  it  bore  to  the  Sublime 
Porte.  The  President  would  closely  resemble  in  his  powers 
the  mighty  Abdul  Ahmed.  The  Senate  would  be  his  Divan  ; 
the  standing  army  his  Janizaries ;  the  judges,  unchecked  by 

*  See  a  paper  signed  Centinel.  Independent  Gazetteer,  October  5,  1787.  For 
an  attack  on  Few,  Telfair,  and  Baldwin,  of  Georgia,  see  Independent  Gazetteer, 
February  11,  1788. 

f  Letters  on  the  Federal  Government.    By  Tench  Coxe,  Esq. 

J  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  November  14,  1787.  In  the  Massachusetts  Conven 
tion,  a  Worcester  farmer  declared,  on  January  19,  1788 :  "  There  is  no  provision 
that  men  in  power  should  have  any  religion ;  a  Papist  or  an  infidel  is  as  eligible 
as  Christians." 


468          THE   CONSTITUTION  BEFOEE   THE  PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

jurors,  his  Cadis ;  while  the  new-made  Bishop  Seabury  would 
do  very  well  for  his  Mufti.*  Peter  Prejudice  complained  of 
the  ill-treatment  he  had  met  with  at  the  hands  of  his  tailor. 
He  had  sent  an  old  pair  of  breeches  to  be  patched,  and,  as 
they  were  full  of  holes  both  behind  and  before,  had  provided 
cloth  enough  for  the  mending.  The  wretched  tailor  had  kept 
them  four  months,  and,  in  place  of  repairing  them,  had  de 
clared  they  were  worthless  and  made  a  new  pair  of  small 
clothes  out  of  the  stuff  sent  for  the  mending.  This  was  a 
vile  conspiracy  on  the  part  of  the  tailor,  the  journeymen,  and 
the  apprentices,  against  the  liberty  of  his  thighs  and  knees. f 

It  is  easy  enough,  said  another,  to  get  an  endorsement  to 
the  Constitution.  You  have  but  to  draw  up  a  set  of  stirring 
resolutions,  enclose  them  with  a  five-dollar  note  in  a  letter  to 
a  partisan  in  the  country,  and  observe  these  directions  :  Select 
a  small  town,  the  more  out  of  the  way  the  better,  and  bid  your 
friend  get  all  the  people  into  the  tavern  he  can,  and  after  ex 
pending  the  five  dollars  in  grog,  beer,  and  gin,  and  all  have 
grown  cheerful,  put  a  hero  in  the  chair  and  read  the  resolu 
tions.  Then  ask  all  who  disapprove  to  hold  up  their  hands. 
Not  one  will  have  the  impudence  to  do  so.  Thereupon  have 
the  resolutions  signed  as  the  unanimous  resolve  of  a  number 
of  highly  respectable  inhabitants  of  the  county.  But  see  to  it 
that  no  stir  be  made.  Get  the  men  together  quietly,  ten  or 
twelve  will  do,  and  let  them  separate  as  soon  as  possible. 
Above  all,  avoid  cheering  and  firing  of  cannon,  lest  the  farm 
ers  get  wind  of  what  is  going  on  and  spoil  the  game.  ^ 

Another  offered  a  receipt  for  an  Antifederal  essay. 
Take,  said  he,  well-born  nineteen  times,  aristocracy  eighteen 
times,  liberty  of  the  press  thirteen  times,  negro  slavery  once, 
trial  by  jury  seven  times,  great  names  six  times,  Mr.  Wilson 
forty  times,  and,  lastly,  George  Mason's  hand  in  a  cutting-box 
nineteen  times.*  Put  these  all  together  and  dish  them  up  at 

*  A  Turk.     Independent  Gazetteer,  October  10,  1787. 
f  American  Museum.  J  Independent  Gazetteer,  January  10,  1788. 

*  "  Redoubted  Mason  !  challenger  of  steel ! 
With  cutting-box,  in  letters  large,  thy  Hand 
Long  time  spread  terror  thro'  th'  astonished  land." 

Aristocracy,  an  Epic  Poem,  1795,  bk.  ii,  p.  13. 


1787.  THE  "WELL-BORK"  469 

pleasure.  These  words  will  bear  boiling,  roasting,  or  frying, 
and,  what  is  most  remarkable  of  them,  will  bear  being  served 
a  dozen  times  to  the  same  table  and  palate.* 

Another  gave  the  political  creed  of  every  Federalist.  The 
creed  was  a  bold  imitation  of  that  of  the  Apostles,  and,  like 
that  of  Athanasius,  ended  with  a  fearful  curse. f  But  in 
most  of  the  squibs  and  pasquinades  that  filled  the  papers 
the  Federalists  were  reviled  under  the  name  of  "the  well 
born." 

The  term  "  well-born  "  was  a  contemptuous  nickname  given 
to  the  Federalists.  It  had  just  come  into  use,  and  was  borrowed 
from  an  unfortunate  expression  in  a  late  work  of  John  Adams. 
That  minister  had  for  a  year  or  more  past  spent  much  of  his 
leisure  time  in  the  preparation  of  a  defence  of  the  constitu 
tions  of  America.  The  book  was  meant  to  be  a  reply  to  a 
letter  Turgot  had  written  to  Doctor  Price,  one  of  the  few 
Englishmen  of  note  who  sincerely  sympathized  with  America, 
and  was  at  best  but  an  ill  performance.  The  most  just  criti 
cism  pronounced  upon  it  was  perhaps  that  of  Madison.  Men 
of  learning,  lie  said,  would  find  nothing  new  in  it.  Indeed, 
the  volumes  were  scarcely  out  at  Philadelphia  and  New  York 
before  they  were  assailed  as  a  vigorous  defence  not  of  the 
constitutions  of  America,  but  of  the  constitution  of  England. 
One  sentence  in  the  preface  gave  particular  offence.  In  writ 
ing  of  the  advantages  of  a  triple  form  of  government,  a  house  of 
representatives,  a  senate,  and  a  supreme  executive,  Mr.  Adams 
took  occasion  to  urge  the  imperative  need  of  a  senate.  "  The 
rich,  the  well-born,  and  the  able  will,"  he  declared,  "acquire 
an  influence  among  the  people  that  will  soon  be  too  much 
for  simple  honesty  and  plain  sense  in  a  house  of  representa 
tives."  The  chief  among  them  ought  therefore,  for  prudence 
sake,  to  be  separated  from  the  mass  and  placed  in  a  senate  by 
themselves.  lie  then  went  on  to  show,  by  the  example  of 
Chatham,  that  they  could  do  less  harm  to  the  State  in  such 

*  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  November  14,  1787. 

f  New  York  Journal,  December  12,  1787.  For  other  squibs  and  satires,  see 
Duetto  sung  by  W — h— 11  and  F — dl — y,  accompanied  by  G — c  B — n  with  a  Vio 
loncello.  Tune,  "  Darby,  or  the  Poor  Soldier."  Independent  Gazetteer,  October 
15,  1787.  Also,  "  Cobbler,  Stick  to  your  Last,"  in  American  Museum  for  June, 
1788. 


4:70          THE   CONSTITUTION  BEFORE  THE   PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

a  select  body  than  in  a  more  miscellaneous  one.*  The  state 
ment  undoubtedly  contained  much  truth.  But  many  who 
admired  the  book  as  a  whole  felt  great  indignation  at  this 
remark,  and  the  worst  construction  was  put  upon  it.  Mr. 
Adams  was  represented  as  recommending  an  aristocratic  and 
therefore  kingly  form  of  government.  That  some  men  in  the 
republic  were  richer  than  others,  that  some  were  more  gifted 
than  others,  no  one  undertook  to  gainsay.  But  that  some  men 
were  well-born  and  some  ill-born  was  asserted  to  be  utterly  at 
variance  with  the  principles  laid  down  in  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  and  the  Articles  of  Confederation.  It  was  hard, 
such  was  the  language  used  by  many,  to  tell  which  of  the  two 
sights  was  the  more  diverting :  the  British  Government  pay 
ing  a  British  general  f  for  writing  such  farces  as  "  The  Maid 
of  the  Oaks"  during  the  siege  of  Boston,  or  the  thirteen 
United  States  of  America  keeping  an  ambassador  in  England 
at  the  enormous  cost  of  eight  or  ten  guineas  a  day  for  no  other 
purpose  than  to  write  eulogiums  on  the  British  Government 
under  the  pretext  of  vindicating  the  Governments  of  America.  J 
He  had  been  at  great  pains  to  exhibit  the  British  constitution 
as  the  model  of  perfection.  But  America  would  scarcely  can 
onize  him  for  his  sermon.  The  fact  was,  he  had  figured  awhile 
at  the  brilliant  Court  of  St.  James,  had  become  dazed  at  the 
splendor  and  comfort  he  saw  about  him,  had  put  it  down  as 
the  work  of  the  English  Constitution,  and  now  imagined  that 
the  three-headed  Legislature  he  recommended  would  be  a  fine 
thing  for  America.  But  he  was  mistaken.  He  should  look 
beyond  the  Court.  He  should  peer  into  the  ditches  which 
served  as  graves  for  multitudes  of  the  dead,  and  under  the 
hedges  which  served  as  habitations  for  multitudes  of  the  liv 
ing  ;  he  should  go  into  the  cottages  of  the  poor  and  miserable, 
and  see  with  how  much  parsimony  the  mechanics  and  laborers 
of  England  lived  that  they  might  maintain  in  ease  a  set  of 
pampered  lords  ;  and  when  he  had  seen  this  he  would  not  per 
haps  be  quite  so  ready  to  persuade  America  to  take  the  same 

*  See  the  Preface  to  A  Defence  of  the  Constitutions  of  Government  of  the 
United  States  of  America.  By  John  Adams.  Ed.  1797,  p.  xi,  or  London  ed., 
1787,  p.  xiii.  f  The  reference  was  to  General  Burgoyne. 

%  Independent  Gazetteer,  October  4,  1787. 


1787.    CANVASS  FOR  DELEGATES  TO  THE  CONVENTION.  471 

road  to  greatness.*  Throughout  the  book  he  was  constantly 
harping  on  the  balances,  the  balances,  like  the  graces,  the 
graces,  of  Lord  Chesterfield.  Yet  could  any  man  say  that  he 
had  given  a  rational  account  of  the  balancing  powers  of  a  single 
State  ?  f  But  it  was  peculiarly  amusing  to  read  his  observa 
tions  on  the  need  of  one  of  his  three  balancing  powers  being 
composed  of  the  well-born.  In  what  part  of  the  United  States, 
pray,  were  the  well-born  to  be  found  ?  Was  it  Massachusetts  ? 
Or  was  it  New  England  generally  ?  J 

While  these  questions  were  still  unanswered,  the  election 
of  delegates  to  the  Pennsylvania  State  Convention  took  place. 
The  Antifederalists  were  in  high  spirits,  and  confidently  pre 
dicted  success.  The  Junto,  indeed,  had  been  unwearied  in  its 
exertions.  Whitehill,  Findley,  Sinilie,  and  John  Bryan,  one  of 
the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  had  repaired  to  their  dis 
tricts,  and  gone  from  place  to  place  for  the  purpose  of  in 
flaming  the  country  against  the  Constitution.  The  Quakers,  in 
spots  far  removed  from  Philadelphia,  were  assured  that  the 
Society  of  Friends  in  the  great  city  were  bitterly  opposed  to  the 
new  plan,  and  angry  that  so  noted  a  member  of  their  body  as 
Robert  Morris  had  signed  it.  The  small  farmers  were  told 
that  if  they  were  tired  of  serving  on  juries,  and  wished  to  see 
tax-collectors  helped  by  bands  of  soldiers  taking  their  savings 
from  them  to  support  a  standing  army,  a  pack  of  national 
judges,  and  a  three-headed  Federal  Government,  they  would  do 
well  to  send  a  Federalist  to  the  convention. 

In  some  places  this  kind  of  reasoning  had  much  effect.  Sini 
lie,  Whitehill,  Findley,  and  a  score  of  other  avowed  enemies  of 
the  Constitution,  were  elected.  But  in  Philadelphia  the  Anti- 
federalists  suffered  a  crushing  defeat.  Five  delegates  were  to 
be  chosen,  and  when  the  polls  were  closed  at  the  State-House, 
it  appeared  that  the  name  standing  highest  on  the  Federal 
ticket  had  received  twelve  hundred  and  fifteen  votes,  and  the 
name  that  stood  lowest  eleven  hundred  and  fifty-seven  votes. 


*  New  York  Packet,  October  6,  1787. 

f  Independent  Gazetteer,  October  4,  1787. 


t  See  a  paper  by  Biscayanus.  Independent  Gazetteer,  June  28,  1787.  For 
other  similar  criticisms,  see  Virginia  Gazette,  July,  1787,  and  Maryland  Gazette, 
August  17,  1787. 


4:72          THE   CONSTITUTION  BEFORE  THE  PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

Pettit,  who  was  at  the  top  of  the  Antifederal  poll,  got  but  one 
hundred  and  fifty,  while  Irvine,  who  was  at  the  bottom,  got 
but  one  hundred  and  thirty-two.  One  name,  indeed,  ran  far 
ahead  of  Pettit ;  but  that  was  the  name  of  a  man  well  known 
to  have  but  little  sympathy  with  the  party  on  whose  ticket 
it  appeared.  Franklin  had  not  been  put  up  by  the  Feder 
alists  as  a  delegate,  partly,  as  was  explained,  because  of  his 
great  age  and  feebleness,  but  chiefly  because  he  then  filled 
the  high  place  of  President  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  it  was 
not  thought  fitting  that  any  officer  of  the  State  should  occupy 
a  seat  in  the  convention.  He  was  therefore  used  by  the  Anti- 
federalists  as  a  decoy.  But  the  ruse  was  detected,  and  though 
some  votes  were  drawn  to  the  ticket,  they  were  not  sufficient 
to  elect  him.  He  received  two  hundred  and  thirty-five.* 

On  the  morning  of  the  twentieth  of  November  the  con 
vention  met  in  the  State-House.  The  session  was  long  and 
stormy.  Indeed,  on  more  than  one  occasion  it  seemed  likely 
that  the  members  would  stop  disputing  and  betake  themselves 
to  blows,  for  the  men  of  both  parties  had  come  up  to  town  in 
an  angry  and  determined  mood.  The  Federalists,  united  to  a 
man,  looked  up  to  Wilson  as  their  chief,  assigned  to  him  the 
burden  of  debate,  and  followed  with  alacrity  and  vigor  his 
lines  of  attack.  Among  the  Antifederalists,  Whitehill,  Find- 
ley,  and  Smilie  contended  for  the  lead.  They  were  deeply 
hurt  by  what  they  were  pleased  to  think  the  shameful  behavior 
of  the  Assembly,  and  had  made  up  their  minds  to  leave  no 
means  untried  to  defeat  the  plans  of  James  de  Caledonia. 
Every  method  of  obstruction  known  to  the  time  was  therefore 
made  use  of.  Whole  days  were  spent  in  discussing  the  mean 
ing  of  words  with  which  every  member  on  the  floor  was  as 
familiar  as  with  his  own  name,  and  which  were  almost  every 
day  in  his  own  mouth.  Whole  hours  were  consumed  in  hurl 
ing  abuse  backward  and  forward  from  one  side  of  the  house 
to  the  other.  One  writer  in  the  Gazette  complained  that  the 
convention  had  not  got  through  six  words  of  the  Constitu 
tion  after  expending  two  thousand  pounds,  and  that  if  this 
thing  went  on  there  would  not,  when  the  session  was  over,  be 
a  shilling  left  to  pay  the  public  debt  and  the  wages  of  the 

*  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  November  14,  1787. 


1787.    PENNSYLVANIA  EATIFIES   THE   CONSTITUTION.      473 

public  officers.*  Another  f  said  with  truth  that  five  days  had 
been  taken  up  in  disputing  about  the  meaning  of  the  two 
words  "  annihilation  "  and  "  consolidation  "  ;  that  during  this 
debate  Findley  had  spoken  for  nine  hours,  Wkiteliill  for 
seven,  and  Smilie  for  five,  and  that  the  gabble  of  these  three 
men  had  cost  the  State  a  thousand  pounds. 

At  last,  on  the  twelfth  of  December,  ITS 7,  after  a  sitting  of 
three  weeks,  the  Constitution  was  ratified  by  a  vote  of  forty-six 
to  twenty-three.  The  Federalists  were  wild  with  joy.  The 
next  day,  which  was  Thursday,  the  supreme  council,  the  con 
vention,  and  the  faculty  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania 
went  in  procession  to  the  Court-House,  where  the  ratification 
was  formally  read  to  the  crowd.  When  the  reading  was  over, 
the  bells  of  Christ  Church  rang  out  a  merry  peal,  and  a  com 
pany  of  artillery  fired  a  Federal  salute.  At  three  in  the  after 
noon  the  members  of  the  late  convention  sat  down,  in  Epple's 
Tavern,  to  as  fine  a  dinner  as  the  host  of  that  renowned  inn 
could  provide.  In  the  evening  some  sailors  and  ship-carpen 
ters  put  a  boat,  manned  and  rigged,  upon  a  wagon,  and  drew  it 
up  and  down  the  chief  streets  of  the  city.  For  a  time  the 
towns-people  were  at  a  loss  to  know  what  this  meant.  But 
the  meaning  soon  became  clear.  A  sailor  who  stood  in  the 
bow  threw  out  a  sounding-line  and  cried,  sometimes,  "  Three- 
and-twenty  fathoms,  foul  bottom,"  and  sometimes,  "  Six-and- 
forty  fathoms,  sound  bottom,  safe  anchorage."  J  It  was  then 
noticed  that  the  number  of  fathoms  were  meant  to  denote  the 
strength  of  the  two  parties  in  the  convention. 

And  now  the  minority  published  an  address.  It  was  not, 
they  said,  till  the  termination  of  the  late  glorious  contest  that 
any  defects  were  discovered  in  the  Confederation.  Then  of  a 
sudden  it  was  found  to  be  in  such  a  shocking  condition  that  a 
convention  was  called  by  Congress  to  revise  it.  To  this  con 
vention  came  a  few  men  of  the  first  character,  some  men 
more  noted  for  ambition  and  cunning  than  for  patriotism,  and 
some  who  had  always  been  enemies  to  the  independence  of  the 
States.  The  session  lasted  four  months,  and  what  took  place 
during  that  time  no  one  could  tell.  The  doors  were  closed. 

*  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  December  5,  1787.  f  Ibid.,  December  19,  1787. 

\  Ibid.,  December  19,  1787. 


474          THE   CONSTITUTION  BEFORE  THE   PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

The  members  were  put  under  the  most  solemn  engagements 
of  secrecy.  The  journals  of  the  conclave  were  still  hidden. 
Yet  it  was  well  known  that  the  meeting  was  far  from  peace 
ful.  Some  delegates  had  quitted  the  hall  before  the  work 
was  finished ;  some  had  refused  to  lend  their  names  to  it  when 
it  was  done.  But  the  plan  came  out  in  spite  of  this,  and  was 
scarce  an  hour  old  when  petitions,  approving  of  the  system 
and  praying  the  Legislature  to  call  a  convention,  were  to  be 
found  in  every  coffee-house  and  tavern  in  the  city.  No  means 
were  spared  to  frighten  the  people  against  opposing  it.  The 
newspapers  teemed  with  abuse ;  threats  of  tar  and  feathers 
were  liberally  made.  The  petitions  came  in,  the  convention 
was  called  by  a  Legislature  made  up  in  part  of  members  who 
had  been  dragged  to  their  seats  to  make  a  quorum,  and  so 
early  a  day  set  for  the  election  of  delegates  that  many  people 
did  not  know  of  it  till  the  time  had  passed.  The  lists  of 
voters  showed  that  seventy  thousand  freemen  were  entitled  to 
vote  in  Pennsylvania,  yet  the  convention  had  been  elected 
by  but  thirteen  thousand.  Forty-six  members  had  ratified  the 
new  plan,  yet  these  represented  but  six  thousand  eight  hun 
dred  voters.  Some  freemen  had  kept  away  from  the  polls 
because  of  ignorance  of  the  plan,  some  because  they  did  not 
think  the  convention  had  been  legally  called,  and  some  be 
cause  they  feared  violence  and  insult.  The  ratification  was  in 
their  opinion  worthless.  Twenty-one  of  the  twenty-three  put 
their  names  to  the  address.* 

In  the  mean  time,  while  the  convention  was  listening  to  the 
harangues  of  Smilie  and  Findley  on  the  freedom  of  the  press 
and  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  in  the  Federal  courts,  the  Consti 
tution  was  unanimously  ratified  by  Delaware.  This  was  done 
on  the  sixth  of  December,  f  On  the  eighteenth  of  the  month 
the  delegates  to  the  'New  Jersey  Convention  came  to  the  same 
decision  without  a  dissenting  voice,  and  on  the  next  day  the 
news  was  received  with  every  manifestation  of  public  joy,  with 
cheers,  with  discharge  of  cannon,  and  with  military  display. 

One  third  the  necessary  number  of  States  had  now  ratified, 

*  See  a  broadside  entitled,  The  Address  and  Reasons  of  Dissent  of  the  Minor- 
ity  of  the  Convention  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  to  their  Constituents, 
f  New  York  Journal,  December  14,  1787. 


1787.  KIOT  AT  CARLISLE.  475 

and  as  the  news  spread  westward,  the  Federalists  of  Carlisle 
determined  to  have  a  celebration.  The  last  Wednesday  of 
December  was  chosen  as  the  day,  and  late  in  the  afternoon 
bells  were  rung  and  guns  fired,  to  bid  the  friends  of  the  new 
plan  assemble  on  the  public  square.  Thither  had  already  been 
brought  a  cannon  and  some  wood  for  a  bonfire.  But  scarcely 
had  they  begun  to  assemble  w^hen  a  body  of  men  in  military 
order  were  seen  marching  across  the  square.  Many  were 
armed  with  clubs  or  bludgeons,  and  when  they  came  up  to 
where  Major  Wilson  was  loading  the  cannon,  they  ordered  him 
to  stop,  and  made  threats  against  any  one  who  should  attempt 
to  light  the  fire.  But  Wilson,  who  had  won  his  title  of  Major 
in  the  revolution,  replied  stoutly  that  if  they  did  not  like  the 
proceedings  they  might  go  home.  Thereupon  several  of  the 
rioters  snatched  up  barrel-staves  that  lay  on  the  pile  of  wood, 
and  hurled  them  at  him.  One  struck  him  on  the  breast.  In 
an  instant  Wilson  seized  a  stick,  rushed  at  the  man  who  threw 
the  stave,  and  struck  him.  The  mob  now  attacked  Wilson, 
threw  him  down,  and  would  have  beaten  him  to  death  had  not 
a  fellow-soldier  lain  upon  his  prostrate  body  and  received  some 
of  the  blows.  This  over,  the  cannon  was  spiked,  wood  heaped 
about  it,  and,  with  its  carriage,  committed  to  the  flames.  An 
almanac  for  1788,  which  contained  the  Constitution,  was  then 
sent  for  and  burned,  after  which  the  mob  went  off,  cheering 
the  minority,  and  shouting  damnation  to  the  majority  of  the 
convention. 

.Next  day  the  Federalists,  fully  armed  with  guns  and  bayo 
nets,  returned  to  the  square  and  celebrated  for  two  hours. 
When  they  were  done,  the  Antifederalists  assembled,  went  to 
a  vacant  lot,  brought  out  two  effigies,  labelled,  "Thomas 
McKeaii,  Chief  Justice,"  and  "  James  Wilson,  the  Caledoni 
an,"  marched  to  the  square,  and  burned  them  with  every  mani 
festation  of  delight.*  Then  they  separated.  But  their  anger 
had  not  begun  to  cool  when  it  was  yet  more  excited  by  news 
from  Georgia. 

Of  all  the  States  Georgia  was,  with  the  exception  oj:  Rhode 
Island  and  Delaware,  the  most  insignificant.  Her  soil  was 

*  An  account  of  the  riot  is  given  in   the  Independent  Gazetteer,  January  9, 

1788,  and  in  the  Boston  Gazette,  January  28,  1788. 


4:76          THE   CONSTITUTION  BEFORE   THE   PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

rich.  Her  area  was  indeed  great.  But  it  was  half  a  wilder* 
ness.  So  sparsely  was  the  land  settled  that  the  number  of  the 
inhabitants  fell  short  of  the  number  of  those  who  struggled 
for  a  living  on  the  barren  hills  of  Vermont,  and  was  not  much 
more  than  two  and  a  half  times  as  large  as  the  population  of 
Philadelphia.  But  the  feeling  of  the  Georgians  was  intensely 
southern,  and  when  it  was  known  that  the  State  Convention 
had,  on  the  second  day  of  January,  ITS 8,  ratified  the  Constitu 
tion  without  an  amendment  or  one  dissenting  voice,  the  hearts 
of  many  firm  Antifederalists  failed  them.  It  seemed  as  if  no 
help  was  to  be  expected  from  the  South,  and  they  began  with 
great  anxiety  to  wait  for  news  from  the  East. 

But  so  slowly  was  the  news  carried  northward  that  the 
delegates  to  the  conventions  of  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts 
had  done  their  work  and  gone  home  before  it  was  known  in 
Boston  that  one  State  beyond  the  Potomac  had  warmly  ap 
proved  the  Constitution.  The  State  Convention  of  Connec 
ticut  broke  up  on  the  fourth  of  January,  1788,  after  a  stormy 
session  of  five  days.  The  vote  stood  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
eight  Ayes  to  forty  Nays,  and  was  hailed  by  the  Federalists  with 
delight.  Indeed,  they  had  much  reason  to  be  pleased  with 
their  success,  for  the  Antifederalists  were  nowhere  so  strong  as 
in  New  England.  Rhode  Island  was  completely  given  over  to 
them.  In  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire  they  had  lately 
been  in  open  rebellion.  In  Connecticut  they  had  been  upon 
the  point  of  taking  up  arms,  had  passed  round  a  petition  beg 
ging  for  a  King,  and  had  seriously  meditated  withdrawing  from 
the  Confederation.  That  the  Federalists  were  able  to  command 
so  large  a  majority  in  so  large  a  convention,  chosen  by  men  so 
minded,  seemed  a  great  victory,  and  led  the  friends  of  govern 
ment  to  look  forward  with  renewed  hope  to  the  meeting  of  the 
Massachusetts  delegates. 

The  prospect  in  that  State  was  not  a  pleasing  one.  John 
Hancock,  the  Governor,  gave  the  Constitution  at  best  but  a 
lukewarm  support.  Samuel  Adams  was  strongly  opposed  to 
it.  Dane,  one  of  the  congressmen,  had  denounced  it  in  the 
halls  of  Congress,  and  Gerry,  one  of  the  delegates  at  Phila 
delphia,  had  stoutly  refused  to  sign  it.  With  these  men  were 
the  small  farmers,  the  petty  traders,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the 


1788.  MASSACHUSETTS   CONVENTION  477 

back-country  villages  and  towns.  For  some  time  it  was  be 
lieved  that  the  tradesmen  of  Boston  were  Antifederal.  But 
they  held  a  mass-meeting  early  in  January,  denied  the  charge, 
and  declared  that  they  had  at  the  late  election  taken  pains  to 
choose  men  who  should  give  a  warm  support  to  the  plan.* 

The  character  of  the  men  who  were  thus  expected  to  de 
fend  the  Constitution  is  a  sure  index  to  the  character  of  the 
great  classes  of  the  community  among  which  the  new  system 
OL  government  found  favor.  Of  the  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
seven  Federalists  who  sat  in  the  convention,  twenty-four  were 
ministers  whose  piety  and  eloquence  had  made  them  renowned 
throughout  the  State,  fifteen  were  members  of  the  Senate, 
twelve  were  among  the  first  lawyers  of  the  bar,  three  were 
judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  one  had  been  Governor  of  the 
State.  There  too  were  judges  of  probate,  high  sheriffs  of  the 
counties,  and  generals  of  the  army ;  for  Lincoln,  Brooks,  and 
Heath  had  been  rewarded  for  their  services  in  Shays's  rebellion 
with  seats  in  the  convention. f  Such  an  array  of  men,  noted  in 
every  walk  of  life,  might  well  have  made  the  hearts  of  the 
boldest  Antifederalists  sink  low  within  them.  Yet  it  served 
but  to  render  them  more  savage  and  determined  than  ever. 
Their  objections,  as  was  truly  said  by  one  who  knew  them 
well,J  were  not  lodged  against  any  part  of  the  Constitution, 
but  against  the  men  who  made  it  and  the  men  who  praised  it. 
They  were  sure  some  injury  was  plotted  against  them.  They 
knew  the  system  was  the  work  of  the  ambitious  and  the  rich. 
"  These  lawyers,"  exclaimed  Mr.  Singletary  on  one  occasion, 
"and  men  of  learning  and  moneyed  men  that  talk  so  finely 
and  gloss  over  matters  so  smoothly  to  make  us  poor,  illiterate 
people  swallow  down  the  pill,  expect  to  get  into  Congress 
themselves.  They  mean  to  be  the  managers  of  the  Constitu 
tion.  They  mean  to  get  all  the  money  into  their  hands,  and 
then  they  will  swallow  up  us  little  folk  like  the  great  Levia 
than,  Mr.  President ;  yes,  just  as  the  whale  swallowed  up 
Jonah."  "It  is  an  old  saying,"  observed  Mr.  Randall  on 
another  day,  "  that  a  good  thing  don't  need  praising ;  but,  sir, 

*  Boston  Gazette,  January  14,  1788.  America.ii  Museum,  January,  1788. 
f  Boston  Gazette,  January  14,  1788.  See  a  letter  of  Gorham  to  Madison. 
\  See  a  letter  of  King  to  Madison,  January  27,  1788. 


4:78          THE  CONSTITUTION  BEFORE   THE  PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

it  takes  the  best  men  in  the  State  to  gloss  the  Constitution, 
which  they  say  is  the  best  that  human  wisdom  can  invent.  In 
praise  of  it  we  hear  the  reverend  clergy,  the  judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  the  ablest  lawyers  exerting  their  utmost 
abilities.  Now,  suppose  all  this  artillery  turned  the  other  way, 
and  these  great  men  would  speak  half  as  much  against  it,  we 
might  complete  our  business  and  go  home  in  forty-eight 
hours."  * 

Language  such  as  this  was  heard  every  day  from  all  parts 
of  the  House.  Indeed,  not  a  member  from  the  country  dis 
tricts  who  got  up  to  speak  sat  down  without  indulging  in 
harsh  words  about  lawyers  and  judges,  rich  men  and  rulers. 
One  cautioned  the  House  to  be  very  jealous  of  rulers.  An 
other  reminded  it  how  all  the  godly  men  of  Scripture  had 
failed,  and  declared  that  for  himself  he  "  would  not  trust  a 
nock  of  Moseses."  At  last,  as  the  session  drew  to  a  close,  a 
wreather-beaten  face  and  a  pair  of  sunburnt  hands  came  to 
be  looked  upon  as  the  outward  signs  of  an  Antifederalist,  and 
so  many  were  they  that  no  one  could  say  whether  the  num 
ber  of  the  friends  or  of  the  enemies  of  the  Constitution  wras 
the  greater. 

In  this  state  of  uncertainty  both  parties  displayed  unusual 
energy.  All  manner  of  means  were  used  to  secure  votes. 
Meetings  were  held,  petitions  were  signed,  resolutions  were 
drawrn  up,  members  were  button-holed  in  the  coffee-houses 
and  on  the  street,  and,  when  entreaty  failed,  there  is  some 
reason  to  believe,  were  offered  money.  Such  a  charge  was 
actually  made  by  the  Boston  Gazette. f  A  most  diabolical 
plan,  the  writer  said,  was  on  foot  to  corrupt  the  members  of 
the  convention  who  opposed  the  Constitution.  Great  sums 
had  been  subscribed  for  the  purpose  in  a  neighboring  State, 
and  if  the  matter  were  looked  into  it  might  be  found  that  col 
lections  were  making  nearer  home.  The  matter  was  looked 
into,  and  the  printers  summoned  to  appear  before  the  House. 
But  they  stayed  away,  pleaded  sickness,  and  sent  a  letter  full  of 
lame  excuses  and  apologies.  The  vote  of  one  great  man  was, 
however,  changed  by  fair  means.  Samuel  Adams  had  come  to 
the  convention  a  firm  Antifederalist,  and  had,  by  the  influ- 

*  Elliot's  Debates,      f  Boston  Gazette  and  Country  Journal,  January  21,  1788. 


1788.  PAUL  REVERE.  4.79 

ence  which  his  spotless  character  and  illustrious  public  services 
gave  him,  done  more  than  the  harangues  of  a  hundred  dele 
gates  to  bring  over  the  waverers  to  the  side  he  believed  to  be 
the  right  one.  But  a  number  of  shipwrights  and  mechanics,  to 
whom  Adams  was  well  known,  determined  to  make  an  effort 
to  win  him  over  to  their  side.  A  great  meeting  accordingly 
was  held  at  the  Green  Dragon  Tavern,  resolutions  passed  in 
support  of  the  Constitution,  and  a  committee  named  to  carry 
them  to  Adams.  Few  on  the  committee  were  known  to 
him.  But  at  the  head  of  it,  with  the  resolutions  in  his 
hand,  stood  that  Paul  Revere  who,  in  the  dead  of  an  April 
night  thirteen  years  before,  rode  through  the  Middlesex  villages 
and  towns,  woke  the  sleeping  patriots,  and  sent  them  with 
their  old  Queen's  arms  to  the  fights  of  Concord  and  Lexing 
ton.  Adams  took  the  paper,  read  it,  and  turning  to  Revere, 
said  :  "  How  many  mechanics  were  at  the  Green  Dragon  when 
these  resolutions  passed  ? "  "  More,  sir,  than  the  Green  Dragon 
could  hold,"  said  Revere.  "And  where  were  the  rest,  Mr. 
Revere  ? "  "  In  the  street,  sir."  "  And  how  many  were  in 
the  street  ? "  "  More,  sir,  than  there  are  stars  in  the  sky."  * 

The  mission  was  successful.  Adams  gave  way  and  changed 
his  vote,  for  he  had  to  the  end  of  his  life  a  strong  faith  in 
the  hard  sense  and  patriotism  of  the  people. 

The  question  of  ratification  was  put  to  the  convention  on 
the  sixth  of  February.  One  hundred  and  eighty-seven  delegates 
voted  yes,  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven  voted  no.  "When  the  t 
vote  was  announced  in  the  street  a  yell  of  exultation  went  up 
from  the  expectant  crowd.f  The  bells  were  rung.  The  can 
non  were  fired.  The  whole  night  long  bonfires  blazed  in  the 
streets.  The  noise  and  the  fires  were  indeed  soon  forgotten, 
yet  one  testimonial  of  the  joy  of  the  people  has  come  down  to 
our  time,  for  on  that  day  the  Long  Lane  that  ran  by  the  meet 
ing-house  where  the  convention  sat  lost  its  name,  and  has  ever 
since  been  called  Federal  street. 


*  Works  of  Daniel  Webster,  vol.  i,  p.  302.  See,  also,  Wells's  Life  of  Samuel 
Adams,  vol.  iii,  p.  200. 

f  "The  Boston  people  have  lost  their  senses  with  joy."  Knox  to  Livingston, 
February  13,  1788.  When  the  news  came  to  New  York,  the  pine-tree  flag  was 
run  up  and  a  salute  fired. 


480          THE   CONSTITUTION  BEFORE   THE   PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

The  Antifederalists  were  amazed,  began  to  cast  about  them 
for  the  cause  of  their  defeat,  and  soon  found  it  in  the  post- 
office.  Information,  it  was  said,  which  surely  would  have 
changed  many  votes  in  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  was 
purposely  kept  back.  The  productions  of  many  able  writers 
were  detained  till  their  point  was  lost.  ~No  one,  for  instance,  at 
Boston  knew  that  there  had  been  a  minority  in  the  Pennsylva 
nia  Convention.  Since  the  beginning  of  the  year  the  printers 
in  the  eastern  States  had  received  scarce  a  single  paper 
printed  beyond  the  Hudson.  For  weeks  past  not  a  copy  of  the 
New  York  Packet  or  the  Journal  had  been  seen  in  Boston. 
Some  were  foolish  enough  to  lay  all  the  blame  on  the  carriers. 
But  it  had  at  last  become  palpable  to  all  that  the  well-born  were 
at  the  root  of  the  trouble,  and  were  busy  stopping  the  transmis 
sion  of  news  from  State  to  State  by  tricks  in  the  post-office. 
The  post-office  was  in  their  hands,  and  these  sons  of  power  had 
such  control  that  not  a  paper  printed  in  'New  York  could  find 
its  way  to  Philadelphia  or  Boston,  nor  could  the  papers  of  the 
South  get  out  of  the  offices  in  which  they  were  dropped  unless 
they  contained  fulsome  praises  of  Franky's  New  Roof,  which 
was  to  cover  them  and  the  office-hunters  of  the  continent.* 

For  a  time  the  Federalists  contented  themselves  with  flatly 
denying  that  they  were  guilty  of  such  mean  practices,  asserting 
that  Rufus  King  had  carried  the  news  of  the  dissent  to  the 
Massachusetts  Convention,  f  and  declaring  that  the  Constitution 
was  too  good  to  be  hurt  by  the  slurs  and  sarcasms  of  Tory 
scribblers.  But  the  matter  was  made  so  much  of  at  Philadel 
phia  and  New  York  that  steps  were  taken  to  disprove  it.  The 
Postmaster  put  forth  a  circular  in  which  he  said  that  the  post- 
office,  officially,  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  news 
papers  ;  that  they  had  never  been  taken  as  mail  matter,  and  had 
not  till  within  a  few  years  been  admitted  to  the  same  port 
manteaus  with  the  letters.  The  post-riders  and  the  postmas 
ters  were  alone  in  the  business.  The  riders  carried  the  papers, 

*  These  complaints  and  charges  are  set  forth  in  the  New  York  Journal,  De 
cember  17,  1787;  Independent  Gazetteer,  January  16,  1788;  New  York  Journal, 
January  23,  1788;  Independent  Gazetteer,  January  31,  February  5,  and  February 
8,  1788  ;  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  March  5  and  26,  1788. 

f  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  April  9,  1788.  See,  also,  some  remarks  on  aristocratic 
Influence  in  the  Boston  Gazette,  November  26,  1787. 


1788.  THE  POST-OFFICE   ACCUSED   OF   FKAUD.  481 

bargained  with  the  printers  about  the  postage,  and  put  the 
money  in  their  own  pockets  as  perquisites.  The  local  post 
masters,  to  oblige  the  public,  undertook,  not  officially,  to  dis 
tribute  the  papers,  and  got,  as  the  price  of  their  labor,  the 
compliment  of  a  paper  from  each  printer.  If,  therefore,  the 
papers  went  astray,  the  printers  must  look  to  the  post-riders, 
not  to  him,  for  redress.* 

Meanwhile,  a  paper  was  passed  about  for  signature  among 
the  printers  at  Philadelphia,  stating  that  while  the  convention 
was  sitting  the  newspapers  had  come  as  usual.  Many  put  their 
names  to  it.  But  the  printer  of  the  Freeman's  Journal,  a  vio 
lent  Antifederal  sheet,  stoutly  refused.  The  reason  was  de 
manded,  and  he  named  seven  consecutive  numbers  of  Green- 
leaf's  New  York  Journal  which  he  said  had  not  come  during 
the  session  of  the  convention.  These  he  thought  were  particu 
larly  valuable,  as  in  them  were  the  effusions  of  Brutus,  of  Cato, 
and  of  Cincinnatus.  That  containing  the  fifth  number  of  the 
address  of  Cincinnatus  to  James  Wilson  was  put  out  at  New 
York  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  November,  but  not  a  copy  reached 
Philadelphia  till  the  fifteenth  of  December,  two  days  after  the 
convention  broke  up.  The  reason  w^as  plain.  Cincinnatus 
gave  some  information  about  the  way  Robert  the  Coiferer  had 
conducted  the  finances  of  the  Union,  and  struck  at  some  argu 
ments  in  favor  of  the  New  Roof.  The  paper,  therefore,  had 
carefully  been  kept  back.  To  this  it  might  well  have  been  said 
that  the  absurd  charges  against  the  Constitution  trumped  up  by 
Cincinnatus  were  more  than  refuted  in  the  able  papers  which, 
in  each  issue  of  the  Packet  and  the  Gazette,  came  out  over 
the  name  of  Publius.f 

Nine  years  before,  Hamilton  brought  the  name  of  Publius 
into  notice  at  the  foot  of  a  series  of  letters  on  the  misconduct 
of  a  congressman.  He  now  made  it  famous  by  subscribing  it 
to  the  numbers  of  the  Federalist.  The  plan  of  these  papers 
was  all  his  own,  and  seems  to  have  started  in  his  mind  as  soon 
as  he  got  back  from  the  Convention  at  Philadelphia  and  be- 

*  Independent  Gazetteer,  March  24  and  26,  1788. 

f  The  Federalist,  Nos.  I  to  IV,  appeared  in  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  October 
24,  1787.  The  Federalist  No.  I  appeared  in  the  New  York  Packet,  October  30, 
1787. 

VOL.  i.— 32 


482          THE  CONSTITUTION  BEFORE  THE  PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

held  the  evil  fruits  of  the  behavior  of  the  deserters  Yates  and 
Lansing.  The  city  for  so  many  years  strong  on  the  side  of 
Government,  the  city  that  had  sent  petition  after  petition  to 
the  Legislature  recommending  the  impost,  urging  the  regula 
tion  of  trade  by  Congress,  and  denouncing  the  paper-money 
schemes  as  iniquitous,  now  seemed  given  over  to  the  Anti- 
federalists.  The  coffee-houses  were  crowded  with  men  who 
worked  each  other  into  fury  by  talking  against  the  Constitu 
tion.  They  denounced  it  as  the  "  triple-headed  monster." 
They  nicknamed  it  the  "  Gilded  Trap,"  and  declared  it  was 
"  as  deep  and  wicked  a  conspiracy  as  ever  was  invented  in  the 
darkest  ages  against  the  liberties  of  a  free  people."  *  Poli 
tics,  it  was  said  facetiously,  were  so  much  the  rage  that  two 
friends  could  not  meet  on  the  street  but  one  was  sure  to  cry 
out,  "  Hello,  damme,  Jack,  what  are  you,  boy  ?  Federal  or 
Antif  ederal  ?  "  f  Not  a  Journal  or  Packet  came  out  but  it 
contained  a  savage  attack  on  the  well-born,  or  the  new  plan.J 
On  these  monstrous  slanders  Hamilton  looked  down  with  a 
just  contempt,  for  he  well  knew  that  it  was  an  unsafe  thing  to 
answer  a  fool  according  to  his  folly.  Yet  it  seemed  to  him 
much  good  might  be  accomplished  and  many  votes  secured  if 
the  meaning  of  the  Constitution  were  set  forth  in  a  series  of 
scholarly  and  dispassionate  essays.  The  idea  pleased  him,  and 
with  all  haste  he  laid  it  before  three  men  in  whose  readiness  to 
help  him  he  had  great  faith. 

The  names  of  two  of  the  three  were  soon  whispered  about 
among  a  little  band  of  trusty  friends.  But  the  secret  was  well 
kept,  and  it  was  not  till  Hamilton  had  been  long  in  his  grave 
that  a  public  disclosure  was  made,  and  it  became  generally 
known  that  some  of  the  most  admired  numbers  of  the  Feder- 


*  New  York  Journal,  November  30,  1787. 

f  Ibid.,  December  27,  1787. 

t  Ibid.,  December  12,  1787;  December  24,  1787.  Ibid,  November  8,  1787. 
In  a  play  called  The  Politician  Outwitted,  the  state  of  popular  feeling  in  the  city 
is  humorously  shown  in  the  dialogues  between  Loveyet,  his  servant  Thomas,  the 
school-master  Trueman,  and  the  French  barber.  That  the  absurd  language  in 
which  Trueman  extols  the  Constitution  is  not  overdrawn  may  be  seen  by  com 
paring  it  with  some  passages  in  An  Examination  into  the  Leading  Principles  of 
the  Federal  Constitution  Proposed  by  the  Late  Convention.  By  A  Citizen  of 
America,  1787. 


1788.  WILLIAM  DUER.  483 

alist  were  by  the  hands  of  Madison  and  Jay.  With  them  for 
a  time  was  associated  William  Duer.  Duer  had  come  to  the 
city  a  poor  boy,  had  amassed  a  great  fortune,  had  married  a 
daughter  of  that  Lord  Stirling  whose  exploits  in  the  revo 
lutionary  army  are  well  known,  and  had  come  into  some  note 
as  a  politician.  He  sat  in  the  first  Provincial  Congress,  had 
been  sent  to  the  Assembly,  and  was  one  of  the  committee 
to  frame  a  constitution  for  New  York.  He  was  twice  ruined 
financially,  and  finally  died,  as  the  phrase  went,  on  the  limits 
of  the  jail.  To  the  last,  however,  he  was  a  firm  friend  to 
Hamilton,  and  when  Hamilton  rose  to  be  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  often  acted  as  his  agent.  It  was  doubtless  to  this 
friendship  rather  than  to  political  sagacity  and  knowledge  of 
the  subject  that  he  owed  his  connection  with  the  Federalist, 
for  Hamilton  must  surely  have  foreseen  that  the  Constitution 
could  not  at  so  early  a  day  be  interpreted  by  one  who  had 
taken  no  part  in  its  formation,  and  who  knew  no  more  concern 
ing  it  than  was  to  be  obtained  from  the  perusal  of  its  articles 
in  the  Gazettes.  Duer,  however,  engaged  to  write.* 

The  first  number,  written  by  Hamilton  as  he  came  down 
the  Hudson  in  the  cabin  of  a  sloop,  appeared  in  the  Independent 
Gazetteer  of  October  twenty-seventh,  1787.  From  that  day  on 
till  the  fourth  of  April  not  a  week  went  by  but  three  or  four 
Federalists  came  out.  In  April  they  ceased.  By  that  time 
the  labor  of  preparing  them  for  the  press  had  fallen  entirely  on 
Hamilton  and  Madison.  Duer,  after  three  brief  pieces,  wrote 
no  more ;  and  it  was  well  he  did  not,  for,  though  sprightly, 
they  were  judged  ill  performances.  Jay,  after  the  fifth  num 
ber,  fell  sick,  and  contributed  none  till  the  sixty-fourth  was 
reached.  In  the  dullest  months  of  winter  the  weekly  tale  of 
four  numbers  was  a  hard  one.  Indeed,  it  often  happened  that 
while  the  printer  was  setting  up  the  opening  lines  of  a  copy 
the  closing  sentences  were  still  under  the  pen.  But  when 
the  spring  opened,  when  the  courts  began  to  sit  and  the  elec 
tions  came  on,  Hamilton  put  aside  the  Federalist  for  other 
things.  Nothing,  therefore,  was  heard  of  Publius  till  the 
State  Convention  met  at  Poughkeepsie.  Thereafter  his  writ- 

*  The  papers  contributed  by  Duer  are  published  in  the  edition  of  the  Feder 
alist  edited  by  J.  C.  Hamilton. 


THE   CONSTITUTION  BEFORE   THE  PEOPLE.    CHAP.  y. 

ing  appeared  regularly  till  the  middle  of  August,  and  then 
stopped. 

It  is  not  easy  for  us  to  form  a  notion  of  the  effect  these 
papers  had  on  the  men  who  for  the  first  time  saw  them  in  the 
Packets  and  Gazettes.  We  read  in  the  most  ancient  of  books 
how  a  stone  rejected  by  the  builders  became  the  chief  stone  of 
the  corner.  Much  the  same  has  been  the  fate  of  the  Federalist. 
To  our  ancestors  it  was  little  more  than  a  huge  Federal  pam 
phlet.*  To  us  it  is  the  interpreter  of  the  Constitution.  There 
is  no  reason  whatever  to  suppose  that  the  followers  of  Clinton 
gave  any  more  heed  to  the  writings  of  Publius  than  did  the 
followers  of  Hamilton  to  the  foolery  of  Brutus  and  the  non 
sense  of  Centinel.  Indeed,  six  administrations  passed  away 
and  a  new  generation  sprang  up  before  it  was  discovered  that 
the  modest  volume  of  essays  about  which  editors  and  biog 
raphers  were  wrangling  was  after  all  the  best  commentary  on 
the  Constitution  that  could  be  written.  That  the  work  is  a 
true  statement  of  what  the  framers  of  that  instrument  meant 
it  to  be  cannot  be  doubted.  Two  of  the  authors  had  sat  in  the 
convention,  had  taken  part  in  the  debates,  had  listened  to  the 
objections  lodged  against  every  article,  and  had  come  away  with 
note-books  and  memories  full  of  that  precise  information  the 
task  required.  Nothing  was  left  to  conjecture ;  everything 
was  known.  They  wrote,  therefore,  as  having  authority. 

The  same  day  the  fifty-sixth  and  fifty-seventh  numbers  of 
the  Federalist  appeared  the  Xew  Hampshire  Convention  met 
at  Exeter.  Great  things  were  expected  of  it,  for  every  mail 
that  came  from  the  East  brought  most  comforting  news.  Many, 
by  no  means  given  to  dreaming,  went  so  far  as  to  predict  a  rati 
fication  without  one  dissenting  voice.  But  such  a  host  of  coun 
try  members  came  up  bidden  to  vote  against  the  2s"ew  Roof 
that,  after  struggling  for  a  week,  the  Federalists  were  glad  to 
consent  to  an  adjournment  till  the  third  Wednesday  in  June. 

This  was  the  first  check  the  Constitution  met  with,  and  as 
the  account  of  it  travelled  slowly  southward  the  friends  of  gov- 

*  The  common  opinion  of  the  Federalist  was  well  expressed  by  a  senator  who 
sat  in  the  first  Senate.  Under  date  of  June  12,  1789,  he  says :  "  Get  if  I  can  the 
Federalist  without  buying  it.  It  is  not  worth  it."  Sketches  of  Debates  in  the 
First  Senate,  1789-1791.  By  William  Maclaj. 


1788.        THE  MARYLAND   CONVENTION   ASSEMBLES.          485 

ernment  were  much  depressed.  The  disaster  could  not,  they 
said,  fail  to  do  harm  in  Maryland,  where  a  convention  was  soon  to 
meet.  The  great  men  of  Maryland  were  all  against  the  Con 
stitution.  Luther  Martin,*  whose  influence  was  strong  at  the 
bar  and  in  the  Legislature,  was  hostile  to  it,  and  Samuel  Chase, 
whom  the  people  still  loved  for  the  bold  way  in  which  he  had, 
when  the  State  was  a  British  colony,  stood  up  and  pleaded  for 
the  Declaration  of  Independence.  These  men,  they  were  sure, 
would  use  the  action  of  New  Hampshire  to  defeat  the  Consti 
tution,  or  at  least  procure  an  adjournment  of  the  convention ; 
and  if  this  were  done,  the  chances  of  success  were  few  indeed. 
But,  most  happily,  their  fears  were  groundless.  The  eloquence 
of  Martin  and  the  boundless  influence  of  Chase  were  vain. 
Nothing  could  persuade  the  electors  that  the  New  Roof  was  a 
bad  covering,  and  more  than  sixty  delegates  pledged  to  ratifica 
tion  were  chosen. 

They  assembled  at  Baltimore  on  the  twenty-first  of  April. 
It  was  clear  from  the  first  morning  of  the  session  that  the  few 
Antif  ederalists  who  had  secured  seats  could  do  nothing  by  their 
speeches  and  their  votes.  But  they  determined  to  put  on  a 
bold  front,  talk  much  about  the  danger  of  being  too  hasty, 
about  the  wisdom  of  waiting  till  Virginia  or  New  York,  or 
some  State  more  deeply  concerned  in  the  new  plan,  had  been 
heard  from,  and  watch  for  a  seasonable  opportunity  to  carry  an 
adjournment.  So  soon,  therefore,  as  the  discussion  opened 
they  began,  by  every  means  known  to  parliamentary  law,  to 
place  obstructions  and  to  cause  delay,  and  when  the  patience  of 
the  members  seemed  utterly  exhausted,  brought  in  a  motion 
to  adjourn.  But  the  Federalists  were  on  their  guard.  Two 
thirds  of  them  were  indeed  chafing  at  the  harangues  that  kept 
them  from  their  spring  planting  and  ploughing.  But  they  had. 
fully  made  up  their  minds  not  to  separate  till  the  Constitution^ 
had  been  ratified  or  rejected,  and  so  the  motion  to  adjourn  was 
voted  down.  A  few  days  later,  after  sitting  one  week,  the 
convention  ratified  the  Constitution  by  a  vote  of  sixty-three  to 
eleven. 

This  immense  majority  of  almost  six  to  one  more  than  re- 

*  Luther  Martin's  Genuine  Information  Furnished  the  Legislature  of  the  State 
of  Maryland  is  worth  reading. 


486          THE   CONSTITUTION   BEFORE  THE  PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

paired  the  damage  done  by  New  Hampshire.  The  hopes  of 
the  Federalists  rose  higher  than  ever.  It  was  now,  they  said, 
easy  to  see  where  opposition  to  the  Constitution  would  come 
from.  It  would  come  from  the  Hudson  and  the  East.  That 
section  was  a  hot-bed  of  Toryism,  of  Shayism,  of  Antif  ederal- 
ism.  Not  a  State  to  the  south  of  the  Hudson  had  considered 
the  new  system  of  government  but  had  adopted  it  unanimously 
or  by  a  glorious  majority.  But,  happily,  it  was  of  small  mo 
ment  what  men  might  think  of  the  Constitution  among  the 
hills  of  New  Hampshire  or  in  the  stupid  Dutch  towns  of  New 
York.  Seven  States  had  ratified  it.  The  assent  of  but  two 
more  was  needed  to  make  it  the  law  of  the  land,  and  one  of 
these  States  would  be  South  Carolina  and  one  would  be  Vir 
ginia.  Some  one  who  knew  the  power  which  strange  coinci 
dences  and  auspicious  days  have  over  the  mass  of  men,  went 
further  and  declared  that  the  outlook  for  the  future  was  bright ; 
that  all  was  now  well.  For,  by  a  wonderful  stroke  of  fortune, 
four  of  the  five  conventions  next  to  meet  were  to  do  so  on 
days  memorable  in  American  history  for  signal  displays  of 
patriotism  and  courage.  The  twelfth  of  May,  1780,  was  still 
remembered  in  the  South.  On  that  day  three  thousand  patri 
ots,  after  a  siege  of  three  months,  surrendered  the  city  of 
Charleston  to  nine  thousand  British.  Now,  after  the  lapse  of 
eight  years,  many  of  the  same  men  were  to  meet  in  the  same 
city,  on  the  same  day  of  the  same  month,  to  deliberate  whether 
they  would  again  give  up  the  country  to  Tories,  or  assist  in 
founding  a  strong  and  safe  government.  This  time  there 
would  be  no  surrender.  But  the  brightest  of  all  days  in  the 
American  calendar  were  the  seventeenth  of  June  and  the 
fourth  of  July.  On  the  former  the  conventions  of  New 
Hampshire  and  New  York  were  to  meet.  On  the  latter  the 
convention  of  North  Carolina.* 

The  twelfth  of  May  was  looked  forward  to  with  interest. 
South  Carolina  was,  with  the  exception  of  Virginia,  the  most 
populous,  the  most  wealthy,  the  most  commercial  of  the  south 
ern  States.  Indeed,  on  the  list  of  exporting  States  her  name 
was  third.  The  sums  obtained  for  the  pitch,  the  tar,  the  indigo, 
and  rice  that  each  year  came  down  the  Ashley  and  the  Cooper, 

*  New  York  Packet,  June  10,  1788. 


1788.    SOUTH  CAROLINA  AND  NEW  HAMPSHIRE  RATIFY.    487 

and  went  out  in  a  hundred  ships  to  Amsterdam  and  Boston, 
would,  it  was  firmly  believed,  have  sufficed  to  pay  her  share  of 
the  debt  the  nation  bore  with  so  much  murmuring.  Every  one 
therefore  felt  anxious  to  know  how  the  powers  to  regulate 
commerce  which  the  Constitution  gave-  to  Congress  would  be 
received  in  so  commercial  a  State.  Early  in  January  this  mat 
ter  had  been  severely  examined  by  the  Legislature,  and  in  the 
course  of  some  rambling  talk  on  that  occasion,  Rawlins  Lowndes, 
an  alarmist,  and  a  man  of  small  attainments,  had  cautioned  the 
House  to  have  a  care  what  it  did.  If  the  Constitution  became 
the  law,  the  East  would,  he  said,  get  all  the  carrying  trade 
into  its  hands,  and  lay  the  South  under  payment  of  whatever 
freightage  it  chose.  The  reply  of  Pinckney  to  this  is  curious. 
He  did  not  attempt  to  deny  that  the  eastern  States  would  get 
the  carrying  trade,  but  declared  that  they  would  not  abuse  it. 
There  was,  he  said,  no  danger  of  rivalry.  There  was  every 
prospect  of  firm  union.  What  one  had  the  other  wanted.  The 
East  had  all  the  ships.  The  South  had  all  the  goods  to  put  in 
them.*  Some  concessions  must  no  doubt  be  made  by  the 
South  to  the  East,  for  it  was  the  nursery  of  seamen,  and  could 
in  time  of  war  furnish  a  navy  to  protect  commerce.  But  the 
East,  too,  would  have  to  give  something  to  the  South,  for  any 
blow  struck  at  commerce  must  be  felt  by  those  whose  business 
it  was  to  carry  the  articles  of  commerce.  The  true  course  was 
to  leave  the  whole  matter  to  the  General  Government,  f 

The  arguments  of  Pinckney  had  their  weight,  and  so  great 
a  number  of  Federalists  were  sent  to  the  convention  that  on 
the  twenty-third  of  May  the  Constitution  was  ratified.  The 
ayes  were  one  hundred  and  forty,  the  nays  seventy-three. 

Eight  States  had  now  declared  for  the  new  plan.  New 
Hampshire  made  the  ninth.  The  convention  that  adjourned 
in  February  reassembled  on  the  seventeenth  of  June,  sat  four 
days,  and  adopted  the  Constitution  by  a  vote  of  fifty-seven  to 
forty-six.  But  so  hard  was  it  to  get  word  from  that  remote 

*  South  Carolina  during  the  years  1786-'87  gave  employment  to  947  ships,  of 
a  total  burden  of  62,118  tons.  American  Museum,  June,  1789.  During  1788 
the  ships  cleared  amounted  to  56,977  tons.  Massachusetts  for  the  same  time, 
85,000.  Virginia  for  nine  months,  56,000.  New  York  Packet,  April  25,  1789. 

f  American  Museum. 


THE   CONSTITUTION  BEFORE  THE  PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

part  of  the  Union  that  the  express-riders  who  carried  the  news 
were  met  at  Alexandria  by  the  shouting,  the  bell-ringing,  and 
the  bonfires  which  announced  that  Virginia  had  given  her  as 
sent  and,  as  the  phrase  went,  come  under  the  New  Hoof. 

The  convention  had  assembled  at  Richmond  on  the  second 
day  of  June,  and  for  six  weeks  before  the  people  had  been  in 
a  state  of  unusual  excitement.  Such  canvassing,  such  election 
eering,  such  open  bribing  and  threatening  had  never  been 
known.  The  Federalists,  who  were  strongest  in  the  upper  and 
lower  country  and  about  the  northern  neck,  bestirred  themselves 
but  little,  and  trusted  much  in  the  goodness  of  their  cause. 
But  the  Antifederalists,  or  the  Antis,  as  they  were  nicknamed, 
who  held  the  counties  that  lay  in  the  middle  country  and  along 
the  south  bank  of  the  James,  distinguished  themselves  by  their 
violent  and  unscrupulous  behavior.  The  turning-point,  they 
openly  boasted,  was  now  come.  Everything  hung  on  Virginia. 
What  she  did,  that  also  would  New  Hampshire  and  New  York 
do,  and  it  would  go  hard  with  them  if  they  did  not  have  a 
handsome  majority  at  Richmond.  Indeed,  many  of  the  most 
hopeful  Federalists  thought  for  a  while  that  these  vauntings 
would  come  true,  for  the  canvass  was  carried  on  with  alarming 
impudence  and  bitterness,  Merchants  and  planters  were  sol 
emnly  assured,  by  men  of  no  less  note  than  Colonel  Mason  and 
Richard  Lee,  that  the  eastern  States  were  eager  to  get  control 
of  the  carrying  trade,  and  that,  as  they  would  have  a  majority 
of  votes  in  the  new  Congress,  they  would  surely  get  control. 
Letters  were  sent  to  the  Kentucky  district  positively  declaring 
that  the  East  was  ready  to  close  the  Mississippi  in  return  for 
Spanish  help  in  securing  foreign  treaties.  Even  church  mat 
ters  were  brought  in,  and  numbers  of  well-disposed  tax-payers 
were  shocked  and  alarmed  to  hear  that  a  religious  establishment 
was  to  be  set  up  under  the  new  Government. 

Had  such  reckless  statements  been  confined  to  the  mouths 
of  county  politicians  and  pot-house  orators,  they  might  have 
sufficed  to  alarm  some  weak  and  timid  men,  change  a  few  votes, 
and  send  a  few  Antifederal  delegates  to  the  convention.  But 
no  one  made  so  free  a  use  of  them  as  Patrick  Henry,  and  Henry 
was  a  man  not  to  be  despised.  He  was  of  Scotch  blood,  and 
connected  through  his  father,  an  Aberdeen  man3  with  that 


1788.  CHARACTER   OF  PATRICK  HENRY.  489 

David  Henry  who  followed  Cave  in  the  management  of  the 
Gentleman's  Magazine,  and  with  the  famous  William  Robert 
son  who  wrote  the  first  readable  history  of  America.  But  it 
was  from  his  mother,  a  Virginia  woman,  that  he  inherited  the 
fluent  and  sonorous  eloquence  which  made  him  great  and  pow 
erful.  The  most  obsequious  of  his  biographers  has  been  un 
able  to  find  that  he  was  in  his  youth  precocious,  or  gave  any 
sign  of  the  possession  of  this  wonderful  gift.  He  was  indeed 
the  most  idle,  the  most  shiftless,  the  most  slovenly  and  awk 
ward  lad  in  Hanover  county.  He  was  thirty  before  he  gained 
a  reputation  for  knowing  anything  more  useful  than  where  the 
largest  fish  were  to  be  caught,  or  a  fox  unearthed  with  the  least 
pains.  At  fifteen  he  was  behind  the  counter  of  a  country 
store  measuring  off  yards  of  calamancoes  and  weighing  out 
pounds  of  snuff.  At  sixteen  he  was  attempting  to  keep  a  store 
of  his  own,  but  was  really  learning  to  fiddle  and  to  play  on  the 
flute.  At  eighteen  he  was  married  and  on  a  farm.  At  twenty- 
one  he  was  back  once  more  at  store-keeping,  and  at  twenty-four 
he  was  a  ruined  man.  Then  it  was  that  the  idea  of  becoming 
a  lawyer  first  occurred  to  him.  In  six  weeks  he  read  Coke 
^  upon  Littleton  and  the  Virginia  Laws,  went  up  to  Williams- 
burg,  appeared  before  the  examiners,  and,  with  many  promises 
on  his  part  and  many  misgivings  on  theirs,  got  his  license. 
With  his  license  he  went  back  to  Hanover  Court-House,  where 
his  father-in-law  kept  an  inn,  and  for  three  years  tended  travel 
lers  and  drew  corks. 

The  clergy  of  the  established  church  had  in  the  meanwhile 
fallen  out  with  the  Legislature  on  the  question  of  their  stipends 
of  tobacco,  and  John  Camm's  vigorous  pamphlets,  "  The  Two- 
Penny  Act "  and  "  The  Colonels  Dismounted,"  were  in  every 
hand.  The  clergy  were  clearly  in  the  right,  and  when  one  of 
the  rectors  in  Hanover  county  brought  suit  against  the  tax-col 
lector  and  filed  a  demurrer,  the  court  sustained  it.  In  this  pass 
the  counsel  for  the  collector  deserted  him,  and  in  his  distress  he 
turned  to  Patrick  Henry.  Henry  took  the  case,  argued  it  for 
near  an  hour,  and  affected  the  jury  so  powerfully  that,  clearly  in 
defiance  of  the  law,  they  brought  in  a  verdict  for  the  defendant. 
From  that  day  forth  Henry  was  a  marked  man.  His  practice 
increased,  money  flowed  in,  and  in  no  long  time  he  was  made  a 


490          THE  CONSTITUTION  BEFORE  THE   PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses.  From  the  House  of  Bur 
gesses  he  went  as  a  delegate  to  the  first  Provincial  Congress, 
was  chosen  the  first  republican  Governor  of  Virginia,  and  was 
offered  a  seat  in  the  convention  that  framed  the  Constitution  he 
now  so  fiercely  attacked. 

But,  most  happily,  the  contest  in  which  he  was  engaged  was 
one  for  which  the  great  powers  of  his  mind  quite  unfitted  him. 
No  one  spoke  so  well  or  reasoned  so  badly  as  Henry.  He  was 
to  the  end  of  his  days  an  orator  and  an  actor,  and  nothing  more. 
Had  he,  indeed,  gone  upon  the  stage,  he  would  have  rivalled 
Garrick.  The  attitudes  which  he  struck,  the  way  in  which  he 
walked,  his  gestures,  his  sonorous  voice,  and  the  wonderful  play 
of  his  features  must,  if  we  may  trust  the  descriptions  of  those 
who  heard  him,  have  been  most  remarkable.  He  would  have 
been  fine  as  Othello,  and  have  done  well  as  Sir  Andrew  Ague- 
cheek.  But  a  statesman  he  certainly  was  not.  Whatever  could 
be  done  by  eloquence  he  could  do.  He  could  deliver  a  fourth- 
of-July  oration,  move  a  jury,  conduct  a  canvass,  or  entertain 
the  Legislature  with  tirades  on  liberty  and  the  rights  of  man 
in  a  way  that  would  have  excited  the  envy  of  Pitt  and  Burke. 
When,  however,  the  end  sought  was  to  be  gained  not  by  good 
speaking,  but  by  good  reasoning,  he  was  unable  to  cope  with 
men  whose  limited  vocabulary,  whose  mouthing  and  stammer 
ing  and  monotonous  tones  it  was  painful  to  hear. 

In  the  convention,  therefore,  though  he  came  up  as  the 
leader  of  the  Antif ederalists,  he  was  much  less  formidable  than 
during  the  canvass.  Rants  on  the  iniquity  of  shutting  up  the 
Mississippi,  on  the  dangers  of  allowing  the  Indiana  claim,  on 
established  churches  and  monarchies,  might  impose  on  the  men 
of  the  Ohio  valley,  but  they  were  lost  on  men  long  accustomed 
to  weigh  evidence  carefully,  who  had  sat  in  Congress,  who  were 
familiar  with  the  secret  history  of  the  Spanish  negotiations, 
and  had  taken  a  part  in  framing  the  Constitution.  'No  argu 
ments  that  Henry  could  bring  forward  could  refute  the  close 
reasoning  of  Madison  and  the  careful  statements  of  Randolph 
and  Marshall.  His  speeches,  in  truth,  were  a  singular  mingling 
of  appeals  to  God  and  the  American  spirit,  with  such  reasons 
for  hating  the  Constitution  as  were  every  night  hiccoughed  out 
in  the  taverns,  or  printed  every  week  in  the  Chronicle.  Would 


1788.  VIRGINIA  RATIFIES. 

Virginia  give  to  Congress  a  right  to  collect  taxes,  duties,  im 
post,  and  excise?  Were  Virginians  about  to  abandon  their 
country  to  the  depredations  of  excisemen  ?  Did  they  intend 
that  any  Assembly  but  the  General  Assembly  should  tax  them, 
or  any  tribunal  but  the  courts  of  Virginia  adjust  their  dis 
putes  ?  *  This  was  precisely  the  style  of  Henry. 

The  moment  the  Speaker  recognized  him  he  fell  to  abus 
ing  the  new  plan.  It  was  a  pernicious,  an  impolitic,  a  dan 
gerous  system.  It  was  a  great  consolidated  Government. 
Under  it  neither  the  rights  of  conscience,  nor  the  liberty  of 
the  press,  nor  trial  by  jury  could  be  secure.  An  aristocracy 
of  the  rich  and  the  well-born  would  spring  up  and  trample  on 
the  masses.  A  standing  army  would  do  the  will  of  tyrants. 
The  Mississippi  would  be  closed,  and  the  Ohio  valley  given 
up  to  red  men  and  buffalo.  The  Indiana  claim  would  be 
revived,  and  twenty  thousand  families  in  northwestern  Vir 
ginia  be  turned  out  of  their  cabins  in  a  single  day.  These  and 
a  hundred  other  arguments  just  as  shallow  and  absurd  he  con 
tinued  for  ten  days  to  set  forth  with  all  the  eloquence  and 
ingenuity  of  which  he  was  master.  They  won  him,  indeed,  no 
converts;  but  they  were  alarming  enough  to  keep  the  men 
from  the  Kentucky  district  from  deserting  him  and  going  over 
to  the  Federal  side. 

At  last,  on  the  fourteenth  of  June,  the  House  deter 
mined  that  what  Henry  had  called  the  discussion  at  large 
should  stop,  and  ordered  the  text  of  the  Constitution  to  be 
taken  up  clause  by  clause.  The  debating  under  this  rule  took 
up  the  time  till  the  twenty-fourth.  On  the  morning  of  that 
day  AVythe,  who  was  chairman  of  the  committee  of  the  whole, 
left  his  seat,  came  down  into  the  body  of  the  House,  and 
moved  to  ratify,  with  such  amendments  as  it  should  seem  best 
to  make.  The  instant  his  seconder"  sat  down  Henry  rose  and 
moved  as  a  substitute  that,  before  ratifying,  a  Bill  of  Rights 
and  some  twenty  amendments  he  had  made  ready  should  be 
referred  to  the  other  States  for  consideration.  Two  more  days 
were  then  spent  in  useless  wrangling,  and  when  the  vote  was 
counted  the  chairman  declared  that  the  nays  had  it  by  eight 

*  See  a  piece  by  Cfto  Uticensis  in  the  Virginia  Independent  Chronicle,  Octo 
ber,  1787. 


492          THE   CONSTITUTION  BEFORE   THE   PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

majority.  On  the  question  to  ratify,  which  was  then  called  for, 
two  members  came  over  to  the  Federalists,  and  the  majority 
rose  to  ten.  One  hundred  and  sixty-eight  delegates  were  pres 
ent.  The  convention  next  day  broke  up. 

The  same  night  the  post-riders  brought  word  of  the  ratifica 
tion  to  Alexandria.  In  that  little  town  almost  every  man  was 
a  Federalist,  and  by  common  consent  the  next  day  was  set 
apart  for  festivity.  The  near  prospect  of  a  strong  and  lively 
Government  would  of  itself  have  been  enough  to  call  forth 
every  manifestation  of  public  joy ;  but  the  delight  of  the 
townsmen  was  given  a  keener  zest  by  the  recollection  that  they 
were  the  first  to  rejoice  over  the  adoption  of  the  new  plan ; 
that  the  day  was  the  anniversary  of  the  battles  of  Monmouth 
and  Sullivan's  Island ;  and  by  the  arrival,  two  hours  before 
dawn,  of  a  post  bringing  word  of  the  assent  of  Xew  Hamp 
shire.* 

Philadelphia  was  the  first  large  city  to  receive  the  news, 
and  there  the  popular  rejoicings  put  on  a  more,  impressive 
form.f  It  was  known  so  early  as  the  twenty-sixth  of  June 
that  ^ew  Hampshire  had  assented  ;  but  every  one  felt  that  the 
Constitution  could  never  be  firmly  set  up  while  so  great  and 
populous  a  State  as  Virginia  held  out.  When,  therefore,  the 
post  that  came  in  on  the  evening  of  the  second  of  July 
brought  letters  telling  that  Virginia  was  Federal,  the  doubts 
and  fears  that  had  tormented  men  for  seven  months  were  put 
at  rest.  It  was  instantly  determined  that  the  coming  fourth  of 
July  should  be  made  the  occasion  for  a  great  display  of  Federal 
spirit ;  that  there  should  be  speeches  and  toasts  and  a  proces 
sion,  and  that  the  procession,  it  was  said,  should  be  such  a  one 
as  the  continent  had  never  seen. 

*  See  a  letter  from  Washington  to  Charles  Cotesworth  Pinckney. 

f  While  the  Philadelphians  were  rejoicing  over  the  good  news,  an  event  took 
place  which  at  another  time  would  have  aroused  little  interest,  but,  in  the  excited 
state  of  public  feeling,  wa?  thought  most  significant.  Oswald,  a  rank  Antifederal- 
ist  and  editor  of  the  Independent  Gazetteer,  had  been  sued  by  one  Brown  for 
libel.  His  arrest  took  place  on  the  day  the  news  of  the  ninth  ratification  came, 
and  was  instantly  denounced  by  the  Antifederalists  as  a  vile  Federal  scheme. 
When,  a  few  days  later,  the  court  convicted  him  of  contempt  for  refusing  to  an 
swer  some  question,  the  cry  was  raised  that  this  was  another  type  of  the  tyranny 
that  might  be  expected  under  the  new  plan.  See  Independent  Gazetteers  for  July 
1,  1788,  and  later. 


1788.  REJOICING  AT  PHILADELPHIA.  493 

Not  a  moment  was  wasted,  and  by  the  night  of  the  third 
all  was  ready.  The  pavements  had  been  swept,  the  trees  had 
been  lopped.  Ten  ships  had  been  procured,  dressed  in  bunt 
ing  and  anchored  in  the  Delaware,  one  at  the  foot  of  every 
street  from  North  Liberties  to  South  street.  They  were  typi 
cal  of  the  ten  ratifying  States.  As  the  first  rays  of  the  morn 
ing  sun  came  over  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Delaware,  the  ship 
Rising  Sun,  which  lay  at  the  foot  of  Market  street,  fired  a  na 
tional  salute,  the  bells  of  Christ  Church  rang  out,  and  each  of 
the  ten  vessels  on  the  river  ran  up  to  her  mast-head  a  broad 
white  flag  which,  spread  by  a  .stiff  breeze  from  the  south,  dis 
played  the  name  of  the  commonwealth  for  which  she  stood. 
Meanwhile,  the  procession  was  fast  forming  in  the  city,  but 
the  sun  had  been  four  hours  up  before  it  began  to  move. 
Every  trade,  every  business,  every  occupation  of  life  was  rep 
resented.  There  were  saddlers  and  gunsmiths,  stone-cutters, 
tanners,  brewers,  merchants,  doctors,  shipwrights,  and  stocking- 
makers.  The  cordwainers  sent  a  miniature  shop.  The  rope- 
makers  marched  each  with  a  bunch  of  hemp  and  a  piece  of 
rope  in  his  hand.  The  Manufacturers'  Society  delighted  the 
crowd  with  the  spectacle  of  a  huge  wagon  drawn  by  ten  horses 
and  neatly  covered  with  cotton  cloth  of  their  own  make.  On 
the  wagon  were  a  lace  loom,  a  printing  mill,  a  carding  and  a 
spinning  jenny  of  eighty  spindles.  Compared  with  the  cun 
ningly  and  exquisitely  wrought  machines  now  to  be  found  in 
the  mills  and  factories  of  New  England,  they  would  seem  rude 
and  ill-formed.  But  they  were  among  the  newest  inventions 
of  the  age,  and  were  looked  on  by  our  ancestors  as  marvels  of 
mechanical  ingenuity.  There,  too,  were  represented  in  succes 
sion  Independence,  the  French  Alliance,  the  Definitive  Treaty, 
the  Convention  of  the  States,  and  the  Federal  Roof,  a  huge 
dome  supported  by  thirteen  Corinthian  columns.  But  the 
cheering  was  never  so  loud  as  when  the  Federal  ship  Union 
came  in  sight,  She  had,  it  was  whispered  among  the  crowd, 
been  built  in  four  days.  Her  bottom  was  the  barge  of  the 
ship  Alliance,  and  was  the  same  that  had  once  belonged  to  the 
Serapis  and  had  been  taken  in  the  memorable  fight  by  Paul 
Jones.  She  mounted  twenty  guns,  and  had  upon  her  deck  four 
small  boys,  who  performed  all  the  duties  of  a  crew,  set  sail. 


494          THE   CONSTITUTION   BEFORE  THE   PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

took  a  pilot  on  board,  trimmed  the  sheets  to  suit  the  breeze, 
threw  out  the  lead,  cast  anchor  at  Union  Green,  and  sent  off 
dispatches  to  the  President  of  the  United  States.  When  the 
end  of  the  procession  had  passed  Union  Green,  Wilson  gave 
the  address.  Hopkinson  wrote  the  ode  which,  printed  in  Eng 
lish  and  in  German,  was  scattered  among  the  people  and  sent 
off  on  the  wings  of  Carrier  pigeons  to  the  ten  ratifying  States. 
That  night  the  streets  of  the  city  were  bright  with  bonfires  and 
noisy  with  the  shouts  of  revellers  who  had  taken  too  many 
bumpers  to  the  French  King,  to  the  American  Fabius,  and  the 
builders  of  the  Federal  Roof.*  But  the  rejoicings  did  not  end 
with  the  day.  For  months  afterward  the  newspapers  gave 
unmistakable  evidence  of  the  pleasure  with  which  the  great 
mass  of  the  people  contemplated  the  new  plan.  The  word 
Federal  became  more  popular  than  ever.  It  was  given  by 
town  committees  and  select-men  as  names  to  streets  in  num 
berless  towns,  and  was  used  as  a  catchword  by  tradesmen  and 
shopkeepers.  One  advertisement  informed  the  public  where 
the  Federal  minuet  was  to  be  obtain ed.f  In  another  a  dancing- 
master  announced  that  he  would  give  instruction  in  the  Fed 
eral  minuet.  A  third  invited  gentlemen  who  visited  the  city 
to  put  up  their  horses  at  the  Federal  stables.  A  number  of 
designs  were  suggested  for  a  lady's  Federal  hat 4  Federal 
punch  became  the  drink  of  the  day.  In  the  shipping  news, 
in  the  list  of  packets  that  had  arrived  and  brigs  that  had  sailed, 
appeared  notices  that  the  sloop  Anarchy,  when  last  heard 
from,  was  ashore  on  Union  Rocks ;  that  the  scow  Old  Con 
federation,  Imbecility  master,  had  gone  to  sea ;  and  that  on 
the  same  day  the  stanch  ship  Federal  Constitution,  with  Pub 
lic  Credit,  Commercial  Prosperity,  and  National  Energy  on 
board,  had  reached  her  haven  in  safety.* 

Elsewhere  the  day  was  less  peaceably  kept.    At  Providence 
a  riot  seemed  imminent.     On  the  twenty-fourth  of  June,  when 


*  An  account  of  the  procession  is  given  in  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette  of  July 
9,  1788.     See,  also,  Pennsylvania  Gazette  Supplement  No.  3,032. 

f  Federal  Gazette,  October  15,  1788. 

\  United  States  Chronicle,  June  19,  1788.     Federal  Gazette,  October,  1788. 

*  United  States  Chronicle,  July  17,  1788.     Massachusetts  Centinel,  August, 
1788.     Connecticut  Courant,  September,   1788.     Gazette  of  the  United  States. 
May  13,  1789. 


1788.        THE  PROVIDENCE   REJOICINGS  DISTURBED.         495 

the  news  of  ^Tew  Hampshire's  ratification  came,  all  business 
was  stopped,  the  church-bells  rung,  and  a  great  rejoicing 
held  on  Beacon  Hill.*  It  was  there  determined  to  have  a 
still  finer  celebration  on  the  fourth  of  July.  A  large  plain 
in  the  cove  just  without  the  town  was  chosen  as  the  place, 
a  great  tent  put  up,  an  invitation  inserted  in  the  Chronicle 
bidding  the  farmers  to  come,  and  the  largest  ox  the  butch 
ers  could  find,  roasted  whole.  But  the  farmers  were  strong 
ly  Antifederal,  and  while  the  citizens  of  Providence  were 
preparing  the  feast,  the  countrymen  were  making  ready  to 
spoil  it.  Toward  evening,  therefore,  on  the  night  of  the 
third,  they  began  to  gather,  with  arms  in  their  hands,  near 
where  the  ox  was  roasting.  Early  on  the  fourth,  when 
about  a  thousand  were  assembled,  the  townsmen  sent  out  a 
committee  to  confer  with  the  leaders  and  find  out  what  was 
wanting.  To  their  surprise,  they  saw  at  the  head  of  the  mob 
three  members  of  the  Assembly,  and  a  judge  of  Know  Ye 
fame.  The  judge  declared  the  purpose  of  his  followers  to  be 
to  break  up  the  festivities.  The  committee  reminded  him  that 
the  day  was  a  public  one,  that  the  land  where  they  stood  was 
private  property,  and  that  it  was  a  great  stretch  of  power  to 
surround  and  disturb  with  guns  and  bayonets  people  who 
were  eating  and  drinking  and  making  merry  on  their  own 
land  and  at  their  own  expense.  The  judge  was  then  civilly 
requested  to  state  his  grievances.  His  friends  would,  he  said, 
be  satisfied  if  thirteen  cannon  were  fired  and  thirteen  toasts 
drunk,  and  none  of  them  in  honor  of  the  nine  ratifying  States. 
He  was  told  that  thirteen  cannon  had  been  fired  at  sunrise,  and 
thirteen  toasts  were  to  be  drunk.  These  were  then  shown  him. 
He  insisted  that  the  words  of  one  of  them  should  be  changed 
from  "  the  nine  States  "  to  "  the  day,"  which  was  done.  He 
then  went  off.  And  now  the  mob  were  at  a  loss  what  to  do. 
They  had  no  food  with  them,  for  their  leaders  assured  them 
they  should  carry  off  the  ox.  Some,  therefore,  hid  their  guns 
in  the  brush,  came  over  to  the  cove,  and  joined  in  the  Fed 
eral  rejoicings.  Some  bought  food  at  the  tavern,  and  some 
went  home  tired,  hungry,  and  ashamed.  On  the  fifth  came 
the  news  of  Virginia's  ratification,  when  a  new  procession 

*  United  States  Chronicle,  June  26,  1788. 


496          THE  CONSTITUTION   BEFORE  THE  PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

was  formed,  and  more  cannonading  and  bell-ringing  in 
dulged  in.* 

At  Albany  some  blood  was  shed.  "When  the  news  from 
Virginia  came,  the  friends  of  government  determined  to  have 
a  parade.  But  being  warned  that  such  a  performance  would 
greatly  offend  the  Antifederalists,  they  gave  it  up  and  con 
tented  themselves,  on  the  morning  of  the  fourth,  with  ringing 
the  bells  and  firing  ten  guns  at  the  fort.  They  had,  how 
ever,  scarcely  separated  when  the  Antifederalists,  led  by  Peter 
Yates  and  Abraham  Lansing,  came  in  a  body  to  the  same  spot, 
discharged  thirteen  guns,  and  burned  the  Constitution.  They 
then  went  to  dinner  at  Hilton's  Tavern.  The  Federalists  dined 
at  Lewis's,  and  when  the  cloth  was  removed,  the  whole  party 
being  pretty  full,  it  was  agreed  to  raise  the  Constitution  where 
Yates  and  his  band  had  burned  it.  While  some  hastened  to 
get  a  copy  of  the  document,  others  went  to  the  pine-brush,  cut 
down  a  tree,  took  it  to  the  fort,  nailed  the  Constitution  to  the 
top  of  it,  and  raised  it  on  the  very  spot  where  the  ashes  of  the 
morning's  fire  were  yet  smouldering.  Ten  guns  were  then 
fired,  a  procession  f ormed,  and  the  Constitution,  made  fast  to  a 
tall  pole,  was  carried  before  the  pine-tree  through  the  streets  of 
the  town.  Meanwhile,  the  diners  at  Hilton's  had  filled  their 
pockets  with  stones  and  set  off  in  search  of  their  opponents. 
They  met  them  in  a  narrow  lane,  and  in  a  moment  the  air  was 
thick  with  stones,  bricks,  and  pieces  of  iron.  For  a  while  the 
fight  was  hot ;  but  the  Antifederalists  soon  broke  and  ran.f 

While  Peter  Yates  and  his  friend  Abraham  Lansing  were 
burning  the  Constitution  and  stoning  the  Federah'sts  at  Albany, 
another  Yates  and  another  Lansing,  animated  by  the  same  spirit, 
were  urging  on  the  faction  at  Poughkeepsie.  There  the  State 
Convention  was  assembled.  ,For  two  weeks  the  session  had 
been  dragging  along,  yet  the  business  of  the  meeting  seemed 
as  far  from  a  speedy  ending  as  on  the  day  when  Clinton  was 

*  See  a  letter  from  a  gentleman  in  Providence  to  his  friend  in  Boston.  New 
York  Packet,  July  18,  1788.  Also,  Staples's  Annals  of  Providence,  pp.  329-335. 
United  States  Chronicle,  July  10  and  17,  1788.  United  States  Chronicle,  July  31, 
7788. 

f  Extract  of  a  letter  from  a  gentleman  in  Albany,  dated  the  7th  inst,,  to 
his  friend  in  this  city.  New  York  Packet,  July  11  and  18, 1788.  The  battle  was 
afterwards  ridiculed  in  The  Albaniad,  an  Epic  Poem.  By  Pilgarlic,  1791. 


1788.  THE   NEW   YORK   CONVENTION.  497 

put  in  the  chair.  The  debates  had  been  savage.  The  dele 
gates  had  not  been  sparing  of  abuse ;  much  bad  feeling  had 
been  stirred  up,  but  no  work  done.  The  Antifederalists  could  ( 
indeed,  had  they  been  so  disposed,  have  settled  matters  and 
gone  home  in  a  week,  for  they  came  up  to  the  convention 
in  such  numbers  that  at  least  two  thirds  of  that  body  were  of 
their  party.  They  were  much  more  inclined  to  delay  than  to 
hasten  a  vote.  Clinton  kept  them  from  ratifying  the  Constitu 
tion.  Fear  kept  them  from  rejecting  it.  They  were  w^ell 
aware  that  if  the  instrument  before  them  were  thrown  out,  yet 
adopted  by  nine  States,  New  York  would  be  left  out  of  the 
Union,  and  that  to  be  left  out  of  the  Union  meant  endless 
misery  and  expense.  It  meant  treaties,  it  meant  a  navy,  it 
meant  a  string  of  forts  along  a  frontier  still  to  be  wrested  from 
the  British,  it  meant  ministers  at  every  foreign  court,  consuls 
at  every  great  seaport  abroad,  and  an  army  of  tide-waiters  and 
gaugers  at  every  dock  at  home.  Bitterly  as  they  hated  thel 
Constitution,  they  were  not  ready  to  pay  such  a  price  for  the  ) 
privilege  of  rejecting  it.  They  did  not  dare  to  go  back  to 
those  who  sent  them  and  say  that  the  Confederation  was  broken 
up,  that  New  York  was  a  free  and  independent  State,  and  that 
to  support  this  new  dignity  the  taxes,  already  unbearable, 
would  have  to  be  increased  twenty-fold.  They  determined, 
therefore,  to  await  the  action  of  the  other  States.  Nor  did 
they  wait  long. 

On  the  twenty-fourth  of  June  word  was  brought  that  New 
Hampshire  had  ratified.  The  news  was  discouraging,  but  it 
did  not  break  the  resolute  spirit  of  Clinton  and  his  band.  New 
Hampshire  was  a  very  little  State,  and  a  poor  one.  Her  popu 
lation  was  small  and  scattered,  she  had  no  ships,  she  grew 
nothing  fit  for  commerce.  The  whole  number  of  human  beings 
that  struggled  for  a  living  on  her  hundreds  of  thousands  of  acres 
was  scarcely  four  times  as  great  as  that  crowded  together  on 
the  four  square  miles  that  made  the  city  of  New  York.  And 
of  these  many  thousands  had  never  in  their  lives  heard  the 
roar  or  smelled  the  salt  air  of  the  sea,  or  looked  on  a  sheet  of 
water  larger  than  Lake  Winnipiseogee.  To  track  bears,  to 
hunt  elk  and  deer,  to  cut  down  trees,  make  potashes,  and  raise 
a  little  Indian  corn,  was  in  the  opinion  of  New  Yorkers  the 

VOL.  i. — 33 


£98          THE   CONSTITUTION   BEFORE   THE   PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

chief  occupation  of  New  Hampshire  farmers.  Whether  such 
'a  State  came  into  the  Union  or  stayed  out  of  the  Union  was  to 
them  of  small  moment  while  two  such  States  as  Virginia 
and  North  Carolina  were  firmly  Antif  ederal.  And  then  they 
began  to  have  dreams  of  a  league.  Perhaps  it  might  be  possible 
to  form  with  the  South  a  new  confederation  on  much  the  same 
principles  as  the  old.  And  what,  they  said  proudly,  what  a 
confederation  that  would  be  !  In  it  would  be  many  of  the 
largest  cities,  the  finest  seaports,  the  greatest,  the  most  prosper 
ous,  the  most  commercial  States  on  the  continent.  Its  power 
would  be  irresistible.  In  a  little  while  it  would  have  the 
commerce  of  America  under  complete  control.  New  York, 
possessed  of  the  Hudson  and  the  Mohawk,  held  the  key  to  the 
Canadas  and  the  great  lakes.  Virginia  and  North  Carolina 
owned  the  rich  districts  that  lay  along  the  Ohio  and  the  Missis 
sippi,  and  would  manage  the  trade  of  that  splendid  region.  To 
make  a  treaty  with  Spain  would  be  a  matter  of  a  few  months. 
To  make  treaties  abroad  would  be  a  matter  of  a  few  years ;  and 
then  would  go  out  each  twelvemonth  from  New  York,  from 
Alexandria,  from  Norfolk,  from  Wilmington,  from  some  sea 
port  yet  to  be  built  on  the  shores  of  Pamlico  Sound,  hundreds 
of  ships  freighted  with  furs,  with  tobacco,  with  grain,  with  iii- 
digo,  pitch,  tar,  and  rice.  But  unhappily,  in  the  midst  of  their^v 
magnificent  day-dream,  came  word  that  Virginia  had  ratified.-^ 
Strong  hopes  were  now  entertained  that  the  Antifederalists 
would  give  way.  But  they  seemed  as  determined  as  ever  not 
to  surrender,  and  when  a  resolution  was  offered  to  adopt  the 
Constitution  after  the  manner  of  Virginia,  threw  it  out  by  a 
great  vote.  The  next  three  weeks  were  spent  in  bickering,  in 
niggling,  and  in  endeavoring  to  frame  some  form  of  ratifica 
tion  in  which  much  should  be  said  yet  nothing  meant.  At 
last,  when  the  patience  of  each  party  was  all  but  worn  out,  the 
Clinton  men  announced  that  they  would  consent  to  a  compro 
mise.  They  had,  they  said,  some  amendments  to  offer,  and 
were  ready  to  do  either  of  two  things.  They  would  adopt  the 
Constitution  with  the  express  condition  that  the  amendments 
should  be  made  part  of  it,  or  they  would  adopt  the  Constitu 
tion  with  the  reservation  of  a  right  to  quit  the  Union  if  at  the 
end  of  a  certain  time  the  amendments  were  not  accepted. 


1788.  REJOICING  AT  NEW   YORK   CITY.  499 

More  they  would  not  do.  This  offer,  which  was  declared  to 
be  a  most  generous  one,  was  far  from  inviting.  But  such  was 
the  zeal  of  the  Federalists  to  bring  the  State  into  the  Union  at 
once  that  they  were  for  accepting  it.  Indeed,  so  much  encour 
agement  was  held  out  that  a  plan  for  a  conditional  ratification 
was  laid  before  the  House,  and,  to  the  surprise  of  many,  was 
stoutly  withstood  by  Hamilton  and  thrown  out.  Hamilton  had 
in  the  meanwhile  been  consulting  with  Madison.*  Everything 
was  now  to  be  done  over  again.  The  Antifederalists,  knowing 
their  strength,  and  angry  at  the  slight  put  upon  their  proposi 
tion,  assumed  a  haughty  manner,  talked  much  of  flatly  reject 
ing  the  Constitution,  and  for  a  time  could  not  be  brought  to 
listen  to  reason.  Indeed,  several  days  were  wasted  in  talking 
and  factious  squabbling  before  both  parties  agreed  upon  a  plan 
which  of  all  the  plans  devised  was  the  worst.  A  resolution 
was  first  presented  to  the  House  calling  for  a  new  convention 
of  the  States  to  amend  the  Constitution ;  and  when  the  Presi 
dent  put  the  question,  every  member  present  voted  Aye.  An 
act  of  ratification,  which  was  little  more  than  a  jingle  of 
words,  was  then  brought  in,  a  long  declaration  of  rights 
prefixed,  thirty-two  amendments  tacked  on,  and  in  this  form 
passed. 

In  New  York  city  the  Federalists,  who  heard  the  news 
about  nine  on  the  evening  of  the  twenty-sixth,  pretended  to 
be  thoroughly  pleased,  fired  cannon,  formed  a  procession,  and 
went  shouting  and  cheering  through  the  streets  to  the  houses 
of  the  Federal  members  of  the  convention.  But  before  they 
dispersed,  some  among  them  disgraced  the  good  cause  by  a 
wanton  attack  on  the  office  of  the  New  York  Journal.  The 
issue  of  the  twenty-fourth  of  July  contained  some  remarks 
ridiculing  the  Federal  procession  on  the  day  before.f  The 
paragraph  was  no  more  galling  than  a  hundred  others  thafr 
had  been  written  on  the  Federalists,  nor  worse  than  their  own 
party  editors  were  constantly  printing  about  their  opponents, 
But  the  potters  were  particularly  incensed  at  the  sport  made 
of  their  display  in  the  Federal  procession,  and  some  of  them 
being  in  the  crowd,  raised  the  cry  of  revenge.  A  number  ac- 

*  See  a  letter  of  Madison  to  Hamilton,  in  Works  of  Hamilton,  vol.  i,  p.  465. 
f  New  York  Journal,  July  24,  1788. 


500          THE   CONSTITUTION   BEFORE   THE   PEOPLE.    CHAP.  y. 

cordingly  surrounded  the  office,  beat  in  the  door,  and  carried 
off  a  quantity  of  type.* 

Beyond  the  limits  of  the  city  the  shameful  concession  at 
Poughkeepsie  was  heard  with  regret. 

It  was  felt  everywhere  that  the  victory  was  with  the  Anti- 
federalists.  The  friends  of  the  Constitution  openly  declared 
there  was  no  need  of  compromise.  Their  brethren  of  New 
York  should,  they  said,  have  stood  firm.  The  Constitution  was 
safe.  Ten  States  had  in  the  most  handsome  manner  adopted 
it,  and  steps  were,  at  the  very  moment  the  final  vote  was 
counted  at  Poughkeepsie,  being  taken  to  put  it  into  operation 
at  New  York.  The  more  dignified,  the  more  honorable  course 
would  under  such  circumstances  have  been  to  turn  a  deaf  ear 
to  the  offers  and  suggestions  of  the  enemy,  firmly  refuse  to 
give  one  inch  of  ground,  and  let  them,  if  they  dared,  go  out  of 
the  Union.  That  moment  a  reaction  would  have  begun.  Hun 
dreds,  nay,  thousands,  of  simple-hearted,  well-meaning  Antif  ed- 
eralists,  who,  while  it  was  still  doubtful  if  nine  States  could  be 
found  to  accept  the  Constitution,  were  its  bitter  foes,  would, 
the  instant  they  saw  the  New  Roof  up  and  completed  and  New 
York  not  under  it,  have  become  its  warm  friends.  New  fears, 
new  dreads  would  have  tormented  them ;  a  great  cry  for  an 
other  convention  wrould  have  gone  up,  and  before  a  year  was 
out  the  Constitution  would  have  been  ratified  by  a  splendid 
majority,  despite  the  machination  of  Clinton  and  his  band. 
But  all  this  was  impossible. 

The  circular  letter  of  Clinton  urging  the  States  to  call  a 
new  convention  to  amend  the  Constitution  was  made  ready 
with  all  speed,  came  forth,  and  was  received  with  delight  in 
North  Carolina  and  Pennsylvania. f  The  convention  of  North 
Carolina  assembled  on  the  fourth  of  July,  and  before  it  had 
been  many  hours  in  session  a  motion  was  made  by  an  Antifed- 
eralist  to  put  the  question  of  ratification.  It  was  certain,  he 
said,  that  every  member  who  heard  him  had  made  up  his  mind. 

*  American  Museum,  vol.  iv,  pp.  100,  102.  Life  of  General  John  Lamb,  by 
Leake,  pp.  333,  334. 

f  In  answer  to  this  call  a  convention  met  at  Harrisburg  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
proposed  twelve  amendments  to  the  Constitution.  Among  the  delegates  from 
Western  Pennsylvania  was  Albert  Gallatin. 


1788.     NORTH  CAROLINA  REJECTS  THE  CONSTITUTION.     501 

It  was  therefore  a  matter  of  votes  and  not  of  arguments  which 
way  the  question  went,  and  much  time  and  expense  would, 
he  thought,  be  saved  by  having  the  votes  counted  at  once. 
The  general  opinion  seemed  to  be  decidedly  in  favor  of 
voting  at  once.  But  one  of  the  Federalists,  in  a  vigorous 
harangue,  pointed  out  with  such  force  the  impropriety  of 
haste  in  so  weighty  a  business  that  the  motion  was  with 
drawn. 

The  House  then  went  into  a  committee  of  the  whole,  took 
up  the  Constitution  clause  by  clause,  and  was  deep  in  the  de 
bates  when  reports  of  the  ratifications  by  Virginia,  by  New 
Hampshire,  by  ~New  York,  and  the  letter  of  Clinton,  came  in 
hard  upon  each  other.  For  a  moment  the  delegates  were  dum- 
f ounded.  What  to  do  they  did  not  know.  They  had  not  the 
impudence  to  reject  the  Constitution  which  eleven  States  had 
accepted.  They  had  not  the  courage  to  ratify  it,  for  they  had 
been  expressly  told  by  their  constituents  not  to  do  so.  From 
this  dilemma  some  brain,  fertile  in  expedients,  suggested  the 
way  out.  A  bill  of  rights  and  a  long  list  of  amendments  were 
drawn  up  after  the  manner  of  Virginia  and  referred  to  the 
convention  proposed  by  New  York.  In  a  House  of  two  hun 
dred  and  sixty-six  members  the  majority  for  the  bill  was  one 
hundred  and  two.  On  the  second  of  August  the  convention, 
after  ordering  a  copy  of  the  amendments  to  be  sent  to  Con 
gress,  adjourned.* 

*  The  dates  of  ratification  of  the  Constitution  by  the  Thirteen  States  are  : 

Delaware,  December  6,  1787.     Unanimously. 

Pennsylvania,  December  12,  1787.     46  to  23. 

New  Jersey,  December  18,  1787.     Unanimously. 

Georgia,  January  2,  1788.     Unanimously. 

Connecticut,  January  9,  1788.     128  to  40. 

Massachusetts,  February  6,  1788.     187  to  168.     Proposed  nine  amendments. 

Maryland,  April  26,  1788.  63  to  11.  Minority  proposed  twenty-eight  amend 
ments. 

South  Carolina,  May  23,  1788.     149  to  73.     Proposed  four  amendments. 

New  Hampshire,  June  21,  1788.     57  to  46.     Proposed  twelve  amendments. 

Virginia,  June  25,  1788.  89  to  79.  Proposed  a  Bill  of  Rights  and  twentv 
amendments. 

New  York,  July  26,  1788.     30  to  27.     Proposed  thirty-two  amendments. 

North  Carolina,  November  21,  1789.  Declaration  of  Rights  and  twenty-six 
amendments. 

Rhode  Island,  May  29,  1790. 


502          THE   CONSTITUTION  BEFORE  THE  PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

But,  by  the  time  this  paper  reached  New  York,  every 
thing  had  been  done  by  the  Congress  about  to  end  to  put 
the  new  Government  into  operation.  The  first  Wednesday 
in  January,  1789,  had  been  named  as  the  day  for  choosing 
the  presidential  electors,  the  first  Wednesday  in  February  for 
the  meeting  of  the  electors,  and  the  first  Wednesday  in  March 
for  the  assembling  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa 
tives.*  This  latter  day  happened  in  the  year  1789  to  fall  on 
the  fourth  of  the  month,  and  hence  was  it  that  three  years 
later  Congress  decreed  that  each  presidential  term  should  be 
gin  on  the  fourth  of  March  next  following  the  day  on  which 
the  votes  of  the  electors  were  cast.  In  obedience  to  this  law, 
our  Presidents  have  ever  since,  with  seven  exceptions,  been 
sworn  into  office  at  noon  on  the  fourth  of  March.  Four  times 
the  Yice-President  has  succeeded  to  the  office  on  the  death  of 
the  President.  Three  times  the  day  named  by  Congress  for 
holding  the  inauguration  has  fallen  on  a  Sunday,  and  the  oath 
was  therefore  taken  on  the  fifth.  The  first  of  these  occasions 
was  in  1821.  The  other  two  have  followed  at  intervals  of 
twenty-eight  years. 

To  fix  upon  a  date  whereon  the  Constitution  should  be 
come  the  law  of  the  land  was  easy.  But  a  place  for  the  meet 
ing  of  the  officers  of  the  Federal  Government  was  not  chosen 
without  a  struggle.  It  was  agreed  by  the  people  everywhere 
that  the  spot  should  be  central,  and  that  central  should  be 
understood  to  mean  the  middle  States  ;  but  in  the  middle 
States  were  many  great  and  opulent  cities,  and  which  had  the 
best  claim  to  be  called  central  was  hard  to  say.  What  did 
the  term  mean  ?  Should  it  be  interpreted  in  a  geographical 
sense  ?  Or  should  it  be  construed  with  reference  to  popula 
tion  ?  Some  declared  that  distance  was  the  thing  to  be  con 
sidered,  and  urged  Trenton.  Trenton  had,  they  said,  been  the 
scene  of  a  most  glorious  victory,  had  already  been  the  seat  of 
Congress,  was  well  inland,  and  therefore  out  of  reach  of  ships 
of  foreign  powers,  and  was  about  as  far  from  the  southern 
border  of  Georgia  as  from  the  eastern  limits  of  the  province 
of  Maine.  Some  maintained  that  as  more  men  dwelt  south  of 
the  Potomac  than  north  of  it,  the  city  selected  should  be  on 

*  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  September  17,  1788.     Journals  of  Congress. 


1788.  THE   SEAT  OF  GOVEENMENT.  503 

the  shores  of  Chesapeake  bay,  and  strongly  recommended  Balti 
more.  A  few  held  for  Philadelphia.  Others  would  have  it  at 
Lancaster  or  Princeton.*  When  New  York  was  mentioned 
a  shout  went  up.  Meet  at  New  York !  The  thing  was  absurd ! 
Vast  importance  and  many  great  advantages  would  go  to  that 
city  where  the  national  Government  was  seated  and  the  na 
tional  treasures  kept.  And  wras  any  one  weak  enough  to 
bestow  this  honor  on  the  chief  city  of  the  State  that  had  killed 
the  impost,  refused  the  power  to  regulate  trade,  laid  heavy 
duties  on  the  exports  of  her  neighbors,  and  adopted  the  Con 
stitution  in  a  way  that  was  worse  than  rejection  ?  Were  the 
Federalists  mad?  The  city,  too,  was  open  to  the  sea,  was 
without  forts,  and  far  removed  from  the  centre  of  population. 
Any  one  who  would  take  the  pains  to  look  into  the  matter 
would  soon  find  that  in  the  new  Congress  forty-two  represent 
atives  and  sixteen  senators  were  to  come  from  the  country 
south  of  New  York,  against  seventeen  representatives  and 
eight  senators  from  the  region  east  of  New  York.  Nor  was 
this  all.  The  main  source  of  revenue  would  be  the  impost, 
and  the  impost  would  nowhere  be  so  productive  as  in  the  im 
porting  States  of  the  South. f  To  an  impartial  mind,  there 
fore,  the  shore  of  the  Hudson  was  clearly  not  the  place. 
When  the  question  came  up  in  the  Old  Congress,  a  great  dis 
play  of  sectional  feeling  was  made.  Philadelphia  and  New 
York  were  urged  and  rejected.  Lancaster  was  then  suggest 
ed,  but  Baltimore  was  thought  a  better  town ;  so  Baltimore 
was  chosen.  Two  days  later  Congress  once  more  changed  its 
mind,  threw  out  Baltimore,  and  selected  New  York.  But 
when,  the  week  following,  the  question  to  agree  came  up,  the 
Rhode  Island  delegates,  who  had  steadily  voted  for  New 
York,  had  withdrawn,  the  motion  was  lost  and  the  matter 
again  in  confusion.  The  leaves  had  begun  to  turn  before  the 
House  finally  ordered  that  the  new  Congress  should  meet  at 
New  York. 

This  disposed  of,  Congress  listened  to  a  report  on  the  army. 
That  little  body  of  men,  on  which  the  politicians  affected  to 
look  with  dread,  was  scarce  more  than  half  the  size  of  some  of 


*  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  September  10,  1788. 
f  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  January  7,  1789. 


504          THE   CONSTITUTION  BEFORE   THE  PEOPLE.    CHAP.  y. 

the  militia  regiments  which  in  our  time  parade  the  streets  of 
our  great  cities  on  the  fourth  of  every  July  and  the  thirtieth  of 
every  May.  Five  hundred  and  ninety-five  men  and  two  com 
panies  of  artillery  numbering  seventy-one  non-commissioned 
officers  and  privates  were  all  the  rolls  the  War  Office  could 
show  to  be  in  active  service.  A  few,  with  a  sergeant,  were 
guarding  gunpowder  and  rusty  muskets  at  West  Point.  The 
rest  were  garrisoning  forts  and  block-houses  among  the  Shawa- 
nese  and  Iroquois.  One  of  these  posts  was  called  Fort  Frank 
lin,  and  stood  on  the  banks  of  French  creek,  hard  by  the  ruins 
of  the  old  French  Fort  Venango.  Another  was  named  Mcln- 
tosh.  It  was  a  regularly  stockaded  work,  with  four  bastions, 
and  mounted,  in  troubled  times,  six  pieces  of  cannon.  But  the 
country  had  long  since  become  so  thickly  settled  that  the  fort 
was  about  to  be  demolished  and  a  block-house  built.  A  third 
was  on  the  site  of  Jeffersonville,  Indiana,  and  called  after  the 
German  Baron  von  Steuben;  there  were  two  companies,  a 
major,  and  one  gun.  Two  companies,  a  major,  and  four  guns 
were  at  Fort  Vincennes,  lately  put  up  on  the  Wabash  to  over 
awe  the  Wabash  Indians.  The  headquarters  of  the  army  were 
at  Fort  Hannar,  a  heavily  bastioned  stockade  that  rose  on  the 
banks  of  the  Muskingum  close  to  the  Ohio,  and  gave  protec 
tion  to  the  cluster  of  cabins  that  made  the  thriving  town  of 
Marietta. 

Six  huge  pieces  of  iron  cannon,  such  as  would  now  be 
thought  unfit  to  be  used  for  political  purposes  on  a  village 
green,  frowned  from  the  bastions,  and  gave  a  feeling  of  safety 
to  the  hundreds  of  emigrants  that  went  by  on  the  river.  To 
keep  a  strict  count  of  these  travellers  was  as  much  the  duty  of 
the  commandant  as  to  protect  them,  and  his  list  had  never  been 
so  long  as  in  the  autumn  of  1788.  From  the  day  ice  broke  up 
on  the  Ohio  scarce  a  week  went  by  but  a  score  of  flat-boats, 
loaded  with  cattle  and  household  goods,  floated  slowly  past  the 
fort,  or  made  fast  to  the  bank,  while  the  men  came  up  to  seek 
for  water  or  to  ask  concerning  the  behavior  of  Chickasaws  and 
Cherokees.  They  were  in  general  bound  for  the  settlements 
down  the  valley,  and  seldom  made  a  long  stay.  But  early  one 
bright  morning  in  April  a  boat  was  seen  to  quit  the  Ohio,  turn 
into  the  Muskingum,  come  up  the  river,  and  land  its  inmates  on 


1785.          RUFUS  PUTNAM  AND   BENJAMIN  TUPPER.  505 

the  bank  opposite  the  fort.  The  commandant  was  at  a  loss  what 
to  make  of  so  unusual  a  proceeding.  Nor  was  his  surprise  re 
moved  when  he  learned  that  the  strangers  had  come  to  settle ; 
that  they  were  from  New  England,  and  that  they  had  been 
sent  out  by  a  great  land  company  which  owed  its  existence  to 
the  enterprise  and  push  of  two  Massachusetts  Yankees. 

These  two  men  were  Rufus  Putnam  and  Benjamin  Tup- 
per.  Both  were  men  of  high  integrity,  had  seen  some  ser 
vice  in  the  French  and  Indian  war,  and  had  fought  through 
the  revolution  with  such  distinction  that,  by  the  time  Corn- 
wallis  surrendered,  each  had  risen  to  the  rank  of  General  in 
the  continental  army.  So  highly,  indeed,  were  the  services 
of  Putnam  esteemed  that  when  in  1785  the  office  of  United 
States  Geographer  was  created,  he  was  offered  a  surveyor- 
ship  under  Hutchins.  He  declined  the  place,  but  urged  the 
claims  of  his  old  friend  and  companion  in  arms,  Tupper.  Tup- 
per  readily  accepted  the  office,  set  out  in  the  early  summer 
of  1785,  and  went,  it  seems,  as  far  as  Pittsburg,  and  there 
stopped.  The  Indians  were  becoming  troublesome.  Number 
less  parties  of  Miamis,  Shawanese,  and  Twightwees  had  taken 
the  war-path  and  were  burning,  scalping,  and  murdering  not 
far  from  the  very  region  it  was  his  business  to  survey.  He 
deemed  it  no  more  than  prudent,  therefore,  to  delay  his  jour- 
ney,  and  when  winter  set  in  went  back  to  the  East.  Tupper 
had  long  been  eager  to  see  the  West,  and  had  often  been  heard 
to  declare  his  intention  of  some  day  selling  his  farm,  packing 
up  his  goods,  and  going  out  there  with  his  family  to  settle. 
But  he  had  been  turned  from  his  purpose  by  the  dangers  and 
hardships  of  the  trip,  and  by  the  solicitations  of  family  and 
friends.  No  sooner,  however,  did  he  behold  the  magnificent 
country  of  which  he  had  heard  so  much  than  the  longing  to 
emigrate  returned  with  increased  vigor,  and  he  instantly  made 
up  his  mind  to  go  out  and  possess  the  land.  But  he  would  not 
go  alone.  He  would  gather  a  number  of  the  most  hardy  and 
robust  young  men  of  New  England,  take  them  to  the  Ohio, 
make  a  clearing,  form  a  settlement,  and,  it  might  be,  lay  the 
foundation  of  a  city  that  in  time  to  come  would  rival  in 
wealth  and  power  the  most  prosperous  cities  of  the  East. 

With  his  head  full  of  his  plan,  he  went  one  night  after  his 


506          THE   CONSTITUTION  BEFORE   THE  PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

return  to  visit  Putnam.  As  the  two  sat  talking  of  other  days 
Tupper  made  known  his  scheme  of  colonization,  gave  a  glow 
ing  description  of  the  richness  of  the  soil,  of  the  mildness  of 
the  climate,  of  the  abundance  of  game,  and  it  is  not  unlikely 
urged  the  shrewd  old  general  to  join  the  company  about  to 
be  collected.  However  this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  the 
result  of  the  evening's  talk  was  a  notice  which,  under  the  head 
of  Information,  came  out  late  in  January,  1786,  in  a  few  of  the 
newspapers  of  Massachusetts. 

The  notice  informed  the  public  that  the  subscribers,  who 
wrere  none  other  than  Putnam  and  Tupper,  took  this  way  of 
addressing  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  late  army  and  such 
others  as  might  be,  under  ordinance  of  Congress,  entitled  to 
lands  in  the  Ohio  country.  They  had  personally  inspected  the 
region,  had  gathered  much  information  of  a  most  reliable  kind, 
and  were  sure  that  the  lands  in  that  delightful  valley  were 
richer  and  more  inexhaustible  than  any  known  to  the  people 
of  New  England.  The  climate,  the  seasons,  the  fruits  of  the 
earth  surpassed  even  the  most  flattering  accounts  that  had  been 
published.  They  were  determined,  therefore,  to  form  a  com 
pany,  become  purchasers,  go  out  to  this  marvellous  country 
and  start  a  settlement,  and  warmly  invited  all  of  a  like  mind 
to  join  them.  The  name  of  the  association  was  to  be  the  Ohio 
Company.  The  members  were  all  to  be  residents  in  the  com 
monwealth  of  Massachusetts.  That  no  time  might  be  lost,  it 
was  proposed  that  all  who  took  a  lively  interest  in  furthering 
the  undertaking  should  meet  in  their  counties  on  the  morning 
of  Wednesday,  the  fifteenth  of  February,  1786,  and  choose  dele 
gates  to  consider  and  perfect  the  scheme.  The  men  so  selected, 
it  was  provided,  should  meet  in  the  Bunch-of -Grapes  Tavern 
at  Boston  on  the  first  of  March. 

The  plan,  though  as  yet  disclosed  only  by  glimpses,  was 
highly  applauded,  and  on  the  day  named  delegates  from  eight 
counties  came  up.  For  two  hours  they  listened  to  the  glowing 
accounts  of  Tupper  and  Putnam,  were  greatly  delighted,  and 
instantly  appointed  a  committee  to  draft  a  plan  in-  writing. 
Two  days  later  the  report  was  read.  The  sole  purpose  of  the 
Ohio  Company  was  then  declared  to  be  to  raise  a  fund  in  con 
tinental  certificates  and  apply  it  to  the  purchase  and  settle- 


1787.  THE  OHIO  COMPANY.  507 

ment  of  lands  in  the  western  territory.  The  fund  was  not  to 
exceed  one  million  dollars,  a  great  sum  in  those  days,  and  was 
to  be  cut  up  into  one  thousand  shares  of  one  thousand  dollars 
each.  The  owners,  it  was  provided,  of  every  twenty  shares 
were  to  form  a  division,  each  division  was  to  choose  an  agent, 
and  the  agents  were  to  elect  directors  and  a  treasurer.* 

The  books  were  then  opened  for  subscription,  and  before  a 
year  had  gone  by  so  great  a  number  of  what  was  thought  to 
be  a  ruined,  bankrupt,  and  broken  community  put  down  their 
names  for  a  share  each  that  a  meeting  of  the  agents  took  place 
in  Brackett's  Tavern  on  the  eighth  of  March,  1787.  Putnam, 
Samuel  Parsons,  and  Manasseh  Cutler  were  made  directors. 
Cutler  was  a  man  of  varied  and  extensive  learning.  He  had 
been  bred  first  to  the  bar  and  then  to  the  ministry ;  but  his 
true  calling  was  politics.  He  was  clear  of  head,  sound  of 
judgment,  of  great  push  and  energy,  and  in  the  pursuit  of  his 
aims  not  over  careful  of  the  means  used.  He  was  chosen, 
therefore,  to  go  before  Congress  and  purchase  the  land,  and  the 
choice  could  not  have  fallen  on  a  better  man. 

When  he  reached  New  York  the  memorial  of  the  Ohio 
Company,  drawn  up  by  Parsons,  had  already  been  before  Con 
gress  several  months,  f  Indeed,  Parsons  himself  had  presented 
it  on  the  ninth  of  May.  The  time  was  most  fortunate,  for,  by 
order  of  the  House,  the  next  day  had  been  named  for  the  third 
reading  of  the  Ordinance  for  the  Government  of  the  Territory 
northwest  of  the  Ohio. 

The  petition  of  the  Ohio  Company,  it  may  well  be  sup 
posed,  was  heard  with  delight.  Here  was  a  body  of  men, 
veterans  of  the  war,  and  veterans  of  that  line  of  the  army 
which  had  distinguished  itself  by  courage,  by  perseverance,  by 
the  firmness  with  which  it  suffered  hunger,  nakedness,  and 
cojd,  asking  leave  to  buy  acres  of  that  land  Congress  was  most 
desirous  to  sell,  and  standing  ready  to  go  out  and  make  clear 
ings  and  put  up  cabins  in  that  wilderness  Congress  was  most 

*  Articles  of  an  Association  by  the  Name  of  the  Ohio  Company.  Worcester, 
1786.  The  idea  was  not  a  new  one.  Early  in  1783  Rufus  Putnam  and  a  number 
of  officers  of  the  New  England  line  formed  a  plan  and  drew  up  a  scheme  for  a 
settlement  northwest  of  the  Ohio.  On  that  occasion  Timothy  Pickering  urged  the 
exclusion  of  slavery  from  the  new  States.  Life  of  Pickering  by  0.  Pickering,  vol. 
i,  p.  546.  f  Papers  of  Old  Congress,  vol.  xli. 


508          THE   CONSTITUTION  BEFORE   THE   PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

anxious  to  see  well  settled.  They  were  the  very  men  wanted, 
and  their  memorial  gave  a  new  aspect  to  western  affairs.  Un 
happily,  two  days  later  Congress  lost  a  quorum,  and  from  that 
time  till  the  fourth  of  July  no  session  was  held.  On  the  fifth 
a  quorum  was  again  wanting,  and  that  night  Cutler,  with  a 
portmanteau  full  of  letters  to  congressmen  and  citizens  of  note, 
rode  into  New  York. 

Carrington  received  him  kindly,  introduced  him  to  con 
gressmen,  took  a  lively  interest  in  his  plan,  and  on  the  tenth 
of  July  reported  it  favorably  to  the  House.  Meanwhile,  the 
ordinance  had  been  referred  to  a  new  committee.  The  weather 
was  warm  and  little  conducive  to  mental  toil.  But  such  was 
the  industry  of  the  committeemen  that  two  days  later  the 
ordinance  was  read  for  the  first  time.  It  parted  out  the  region 
into  three  States ;  it  provided  that  when  any  of  them  acquired 
a  population  of  sixty  thousand  souls  it  should  be  admitted  to 
the  Union ;  it  guaranteed  freedom  of  worship,  but  said  not  a 
word  about  slaves.  Grayson  noticed  this,  and  to  him,  perhaps 
more  than  to  any  one  else,  is  to  be  ascribed  the  honor  of  intro 
ducing  that  clause  which  at  the  second  reading  of  the  bill  be 
came  the  Sixth  Article.  Involuntary  servitude  was  forbidden 
forever ;  but  fugitive  slaves  from  other  States  were  to  be  given 
up.  On  the  thirteenth  of  July  the  question  was  put,  Shall  this 
bill  pass  ?  Eighteen  members  were  in  their  seats,  and  as  their 
names  were  called  seventeen  answered  Aye.*  One  alone  stood 
out.  He  came  from  New  York,  and  was  a  member  of  a  family 
whose  men  never  missed  a  chance  to  display  their  narrow- 
mindedness,  their  want  of  feeling,  and  their  lack  of  common 
sense.  He  was  connected  with  that  Judge  Robert  Yates  who 
eight  days  before  quitted  the  Federal  Convention  in  disgust, 
and  with  that  Peter  Yates  who  a  few  months  later  led  the 
street  attack  upon  the  Federalists  at  Albany. 

While  these  things  were  going  on  in  Congress,  Cutler  spent 
his  time  in  making  friends  and  furthering  his  plans.  St.  Clair, 
who  was  President  of  Congress,  and  whom  he  soon  won  over 
by  asserting  that  there  was  no  other  man  he  so  longed  to  see 
governor  of  the  company's  purchase,  introduced  him  to  the 

*  The  States  that  voted  for  the  antislavery  article  were  Massachusetts,  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia. 


1787.    THE   OHIO   COMPANY'S   AGENT   AT  NEW  YORK.     509 

foreign  ministers.  He  was  delighted  to  find  that  Yan  Berckel, 
the  Dutch  Charge,  took  a  lively  interest  in  the  proposed  settle 
ments.  He  dined  with  Hillegas,  the  Treasurer.  He  supped 
with  Grayson  and  some  congressmen  from  the  South.  He 
passed  an  evening  with  Osgood,  head  of  the  Board  of  Treas 
ury,  and  was  astonished  at  the  variety  of  his  knowledge  and 
the  largeness  of  his  views.  He  was  much  in  the  company  of 
Dane,  of  Winthrop  Sargent,  of  that  William  Duer  who  the 
next  year  contributed  a  few  numbers  to  the  Federalist,  and  of 
that  David  Bitteuhouse  whose  services  in  mathematics  are  still 
remembered,  and  whose  Dutch  clocks  are  still  held  in  high 
repute. 

By  Rittenhouse  he  was  introduced  to  Hutchins.  Hutchins 
had  been  Geographer  to  the  King,  was  then  Geographer  to 
Congress,  and  knew  the  West  better  than  half  the  frontiersmen 
who  hunted  buffalo  and  tracked  bears  from  the  Monongahela 
to  the  Illinois.  From  Hutchins  he  drew  the  only  just  descrip 
tion  of  the  Ohio  valley  he  had  ever  heard,  was  surprised  to 
learn  that  the  Muskingum  watered  the  richest  and  most  salu 
brious  part  of  the  whole  western  country,  and  determined 
that  its  banks  should  be  included  in  the  purchase.* 

This  important  question  decided,  Cutler  turned  next  for 
help  to  Duer.  From  some  hints  dropped  by  friendly  con 
gressmen,  he  was  led  to  believe  his  scheme^ was  violently  op 
posed  by  a  few  members  of  the  House.  To  find  out  who  they 
were,  that  they  might  be  worked  upon,  was,  he  thought,  most 
desirable;  and  as  he  could  do  nothing  by  himself,  he  cast 
about  in  search  of  aid.  Duer  seemed  to  be  the  man.  He 
was  a  politician  of  local  reputation,  was  rich,  kept  a  fine 
house,  was  intimate  with  almost  every  member  of  Congress, 
and  could,  therefore,  easily  ascertain  who  were  for  and  who 
wTere  against  the  plan.  ~No  sooner  did  Cutler  make  known 
his  wish  than  Duer  undertook  the  business,  and  succeeded  so 

* "  Was  introduced  by  Dr.  Ewings  and  Rittenhouse  to  Mr.  Hutchins,  Geog 
rapher  of  the  United  States.  Consulted  with  him  where  to  make  our  location." 
Cutler's  Journal,  July  7,  1787.  In  the  entry  of  Monday,  July  9th,  is  the  follow 
ing:  "  Waited  this  morning  very  early  on  Mr.  Ilutchins.  He  gave  me  the  fullest 
information  of  the  western  country  from  Pennsylvania  to  the  Illinois,  and  advised 
me  by  all  means  to  make  our  location  on  the  Muskingum,  which  was  decidedly,  in 
his  opinion,  the  best  part  of  the  whole  western  country." 


510          THE  CONSTITUTION"   BEFORE   THE   PEOPLE.    CHAP.  T. 

well  that  the  opponents  were  speedily  known  to  be  Clarke, 
Bingham,  Yates,  Kearney,  and  Few.  These  men  he  declared 
must  be  attacked  at  their  lodgings.*  But  before  this  deter 
mination  could  be  carried  out  an  ordinance  passed  Congress 
that  was  little  to  Cutler's  liking. 

The  moment  he  read  it  the  shrewd  Yankee  chose  his 
course.  Pie  affected  to  be  quite  disheartened.  He  announced 
his  intention  to  spend  no  more  time  and  money  on  the  matter, 
gave  out  that  he  was  going  home,  and  said  that  he  knew 
more  liberal  treatment  would  be  given  him  by  some  of  the 
States  owning  western  lands,  or  even  by  the  Indians. f  This 
had  the  desired  effect.  Numbers  of  congressmen  called  at  his 
lodgings  to  dissuade  him  from  quitting  the  city.  The  busi 
ness  was,  they  said,  one  of  very  grave  importance.  The  con 
tract,  when  entered  into,  would  be  the  largest  private  contract 
ever  made  in  the  country.  He  must  expect  opposition,  and 
would  do  wonders  if  he  closed  the  matter  in  two  or  three 
months.^  Indeed,  they  were  at  a  loss  to  know  by  what  ad 
dress  he  had  induced  Congress  to  act  so  promptly,  and  to  lend 
so  favorable  an  ear  to  his  proposals.  But  Cutler  stood  firm, 
pretended  to  be  very  indifferent,  talked  much  of  the  advan 
tages  of  a  contract  with  Massachusetts  or  Connecticut,  and  re 
peated  his  determination  to  go  back  to  Boston.*  This  he 


*  "  As  there  are  a  number  in  Congress  decidedly  opposed  to  terms  of  nego 
tiation,  and  some  to  any  contract,  I  wish  now  to  ascertain  the  number  for  and 
against,  and  who  they  are.  .  .  .  This  I  have  mentioned  to  Colonel  Duer,  who 
has  promised  to  assist  me.  .  .  .  Clarke,  Bingham,  Yates,  Kearney,  and  Few  are 
troublesome  fellows.     They  must  be  attacked  by  my  friends  at  their  lodgings." 
Journal,  July  19th. 

f  "  Informed  the  Committee  of  Congress  that  I  should  not  contract  on  the  con 
ditions  proposed  ;  should  prefer  purchasing  lands  with  some  of  the  States,  who 
would  give  incomparably  better  terms  ;  and  therefore  proposed  to  leave  the  city." 
Cutler's  Journal,  July  20,  1787. 

|  "  They  assured  me  I  had  many  friends  in  Congress  who  would  make  every 
exertion  in  my  favor ;  that  it  was  an  object  of  great  magnitude,  and  must  not  ex 
pect  to  accomplish  it  in  less  than  two  or  three  months."  Journal,  July  20,  1787. 

*  "  Several  members  of  Congress  called  on  me  early  this  morning.  .  .  .  I  was 
very  indifferent,  and  talked  much  of  the  advantages  of  a  contract  with  one  of 
the  States.     This  I  found  had  the  desired  effect."     Journal,  July  21,  1787.     "I 
was  convinced  it  was  best  for  me  to  hold  up  the  idea  of  giving  up  a  contract 
with  Congress  and  making  a  contract  with  one  of  the  States,  which  I  did  in  the 
strongest  terms."     Journal,  July  20,  1787. 


1787.  THE   SCIOTO   COMPANY  FORMED.  511 

surely  would  have  done,  for  the  sake  of  keeping  up  appear 
ances,  had  not  Duer  come  to  him  at  this  moment  with  an 
offer  that  completely  changed  his  mind. 

It  seems  that  some  of  the  principal  characters,  both  in  Con 
gress  and  in  the  city,  had  been  much  taken  with  the  plan.  The 
terms  given  by  the  Government  to  individual  buyers  were  lib 
eral.  But  the  terms  demanded  by  the  Ohio  Company  were, 
they  thought,  more  than  generous,  and  they  felt  loath  that  so 
good  a  chance  to  speculate  in  western  lands  should  be  suffered 
to  slip  by.  A  meeting  was  accordingly  held,  the  subject  talked 
over,  a  plan  concerted,  and  Duer  sent  to  urge  Cutler  to  extend 
his  contract  and  take  in  the  new  company.  The  whole  matter 
was  to  be  kept  a  profound  secret.*  Cutler,  after  some  pre 
tended  hesitation,  struck  a  bargain  with  Duer,  and  informed 
Congress  that  if  it  would  grant  the  terms  he  asked  he  was 
ready  to  increase  his  purchase  to  near  five  millions  of  acres. 
He  reminded  the  House  at  the  same  time  that  the  money  paid 
down  for  the  land  would  be  enough  to  discharge  four  millions 
of  the  public  debt,  that  the  price  of  Federal  lands  would  go 
up,  and  that,  in  the  disordered  state  of  affairs  in  Kentucky,  it 
would  be  a  good  thing  to  have  in  the  valley  settlements  of  ro 
bust  and  industrious  men  warmly  attached  to  Government.f 
There  was  much  force  in  what  he  said,  and  Congress  deter 
mined  to  consider  the  matter  once  more. 

And  now  the  work  of  lobbying  began  in  earnest.^  The 
support  of  the  southern  members  was  secured  by  promising 
St.  Clair  the  governorship.*  Sargent  was  won  over  by  the 

"  Colonel  Duer  came  to  me  with  proposals  from  a  number  of  the  principal 
characters  in  the  city  to  extend  our  contract  and  take  in  another  company,  but 
that  it  should  be  kept  a  profound  secret.  ...  I  spent  the  evening  (closeted) 
with  Colonel  Duer,  and  agreed  to  purchase  more  land,  if  terms  could  be  obtained 
for  another  company,  which  will  probably  forward  the  negotiation."  Cutler's 
Journal,  July  20,  1787. 

f  Cutler's  Journal,  July  21,  1787. 

J  "  I  immediately  went  to  Sargent  and  Duer,  and  we  now  entered  into  the  true 
spirit  of  negotiation  with  great  bodies.  Every  machine  in  the  city  that  it  was 
possible  to  set  at  work  we  now  put  in  motion."  Cutler's  Journal,  July  26,  1787. 

"  Having  found  it  impossible  to  support  General  Parsons  as  a  candidate  for 
Governor,  after  the  interest  that  General  A.  St.  Clair  had  secured,  T  embraced  this 
opportunity  to  declare  that  if  General  Parsons  could  have  the  appointment  of  first 
judge  and  Sargent  secretary  we  should  be  satisfied ;  and  that  I  heartily  wished 


512          THE   CONSTITUTION"  BEFOKE   THE   PEOPLE.    CHAP,  v, 

offer  of  the  secretaryship ;  and  it  was  arranged,  if  the  worst  came 
to  the  worst,  that  he  should  go  to  Maryland,  interest  the  dele 
gates  of  that  State  in  the  company,  and  bring  them  on,  for 
they  were  not  then  in  Congress,  while  Cutler  went  on  a  like 
mission  to  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island.*  Meanwhile,  to 
Duer  and  Sargent  was  assigned  the  duty  of  lobbying  the  oppo 
nents  of  the  scheme  in  Congress.  It  was  no  easy  task.  In 
some  cases,  where  the  men  were  not  well  known,  two,  three, 
and  even  four  persons  were  engaged  before  they  could  be 
reached.  A  great  difficulty  was  encountered  by  those  who  un 
dertook  to  influence  Bingham,  Yates,  Kearney,  and  Few.  But 
the  friends  of  Cutler  stopped  at  nothing,  and  the  refractory 
congressmen  found  themselves  beset  on  all  sides.  They  were 
remonstrated  with  on  the  street.  They  were  argued  with  at 
their  lodgings.  They  could  find  no  peace  even  on  the  floor  of 
Congress  or  behind  the  tables  of  the  coffee-house.  Under  such 
pressure  Yates  and  Bingham  soon  gave  way.  Few  held  out 
some  time  longer  ;  but  Kearney  stood  firm  to  the  last,  and  was 
denounced  by  Cutler,  in  a  fit  of  anger,  as  a  stubborn  mule. 

It  was  now  the  twenty-seventh  of  July.  Cutler,  weary 
of  business,  had  selected  that  day  for  his  return  to  the  East, 
rose  early,  and  after  packing  his  portmanteaus  went  out  on  a 
round  of  visits  to  members  of  Congress  to  wish  them  good-by.f 
Eleven  o'clock  struck  before  the  last  call  was  made,  and  as  he 
passed  the  City  Hall  the  congressmen  were  hurrying  in.  Car- 
rington,  who  sat  for  Virginia,  saw  him  as  he  went  by,  pulled 
him  aside,  and  whispered  that  Few  was  secured,  and  that  one 
more  trial  was  to  be  made  in  Congress  that  morning.  He  had 
but  a  few  minutes  before  been  assured  that  Lee  was  ready  with 
an  hour's  speech  and  confident  of  success.  Cutler  determined, 

his  Excellency  General  St.  Glair  might  be  the  Governor ;  and  that  I  would  solicit 
the  eastern  members  in  his  favor.  This  I  found  rather  pleasing  to  southern  mem 
bers."  Cutler's  Journal,  July  23,  1787.  "  I  am  fully  convinced  that  it  was  good 
policy  to  give  up  Parsons  and  openly  appear  solicitous  that  St.  Clair  might  be  ap 
pointed  Governor."  Journal,  July  26,  1787. 

*  "  Duer,  Sargent,  and  myself  have  also  agreed,  if  we  fail,  that  Sargent  shall 
go  on  to  Maryland,  which  is  not  at  present  represented,  and  prevail  on  the  mem 
bers  to  come  on,  and  to  interest  them  in  our  plan.  I  am  to  go  to  Connecticut  and 
Rhode  Island  to  solicit  the  members  from  those  States  to  go  on  to  New  York  and 
lay  an  anchor  to  the  windward  with  them."  Journal,  July  26,  1787. 

f  Cutler's  Journal,  July  27,  1787. 


1787.       THE  OHIO   COMPANY  SENDS  OFT  SETTLERS.        513 

therefore,  to  wait  till  the  close  of  the  day's  session.  But  he 
had  not  long  to  wait,  for  about  three  in  the  afternoon  word 
reached  him  that  an  ordinance  had  passed  granting  all  he 
asked.  Immediately  he  set  off  for  the  Treasury  in  company 
with  Sargent,  made  some  verbal  arrangement  with  the  board, 
and,  leaving  everything  in  the  care  of  Sargent,  started  for 
Boston.* 

The  contract  was  signed  late  in  October.  By  it  the  Gov 
ernment  disposed  of  near  five  millions  of  acres  of  land  at  two 
thirds  of  a  dollar  per  acre.f  Of  this  great  area  one  million 
and  a  half  was  bought  by  the  Ohio  Company  for  one  million 
dollars.  The  remaining  three  and  a  half  millions  of  acres  were 
for  a  private  speculation,  in  which  some  of  the  ablest  men  in 
Congress  were  deeply  engaged.;): 

Immediate  possession  was  given  to  the  company.  Putnam 
was  made  superintendent.  Carpenters  and  surveyors,  boat- 
builders  and  blacksmiths,  farmers  and  laborers,  were  enlisted, 
and  by  the  end  of  November  the  colonists,  forty-seven  in  num 
ber,  were  ready  to  set  forth.  The  boat-builders  were  sent  for- 

*  Cutler's  Journal,  July  27,  1787. 

f  One  third  of  a  dollar  was  allowed  for  "  bad  land,"  cost  of  surveying,  etc. 
The  nominal  price  was  therefore  66 §  cents.  But  as  this  was  to  be  paid  in  United 
fStates  certificates  of  debt,  and  as  such  certificates  were  worth  but  12  cents  on  a 
dollar,  the  real  price  of  the  land  was  not  far  from  8  or  9  cents  per  acre.  See, 
The  Contract  of  the  Ohio  Company  with  the  Honorable  Board  of  Treasury  of 
the  United  States  of  America,  made  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Manasseh  Cutler  and  Major 
Winthrop  Sargent,  as  Agents  for  the  Directors  of  the  said  Company  at  New 
York. 

\  "  By  this  ordinance  we  obtained  the  grant  of  near  five  millions  of  acres  of 
land,  amounting  to  three  millions  and  a  half  of  dollars ;  one  million  and  a  half 
of  acres  for  the  Ohio  Company,  and  the  remainder  for  a  private  speculation,  in 
which  many  of  the  principal  characters  of  America  are  concerned.  Without 
connecting  this  speculation,  similar  terms  and  advantages  could  not  have  been  ob 
tained  for  the  Ohio  Company."  Cutler's  Journal,  July  27,  1787.  The  "private 
speculation  "  of  which  Cutler  writes  was  undoubtedly  the  famous  Scioto  Company, 
the  first  great  "  land  job  "  of  the  republic.  Of  the  history  of  that  company  only 
a  few  obscure  facts  remain.  But  it  is  safe  to  say  that  most  of  the  public 
men  of  that  day  were  deeply  concerned  in  it,  and  that  chief  among  them  were 
Hamilton,  Duer,  Lee,  and  St.  Clair.  Congress  indeed,  some  years  later,  went 
through  the  form  of  an  investigation  of  the  affairs  of  the  Scioto  Company.  But 
the  only  member  they  would  have  dared  to  punish  was  Duer ;  and  Duer  was  then, 
most  happily,  dead.  The  investigation,  therefore,  was  quietly  dropped.  Regarding 
these  land  sales,  see  a  letter  from  Madison  to  Jefferson,  October  24,  1787.  ' 
VOL.  i. — 34 


514:          THE  CONSTITUTION  BEFORE  THE  PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

ward  at  once.*  But  the  rest  of  the  party  met  at  Hartford  on 
New- Year' s-day,  ITS 8,  and  went  with  all  speed  to  Lumrill's 
Ferry,  then  a  cluster  of  eight  or  ten  log  huts  on  the  bank  of 
the  Youghiogheny  river,  thirty  miles  above  Pittsburg.  There 
they  spent  the  winter,  and  while  they  waited  for  the  river  to 
open,  built  their  first  boat.  The  craft  was  forty-five  feet  long 
and  fifty  tons  burden.  Her  bows  were  raking  and  heavily 
timbered.  Her  sides  were  made  bullet-proof,  and  she  was 
named  the  May-Flo  wer.f 

April  came  before  the  ice  broke  up  in  the  Youghiogheny .J 
On  the  second  of  the  month,  all  being  ready,  the  May-Flower 
was  pushed  into  the  river  and  the  journey  begun.  The  boat 
glided  slowly  on  to  the  Monongahela,  down  the  Monongahela  to 
Pittsburg,  stopped  there  a  few  hours,  went  thence  to  the  con 
fluence  of  the  Muskingum  and  the  Ohio,  where,  after  a  voyage 
of  five  days,  it  was  pulled  ashore.* 

The  landing  was  made  in  the  wilderness  opposite  Fort  Har- 
mar.  At  that  time  the  country  was  thickly  covered  with  noble 
forests  of  oak  and  sycamore,  and  under  their  branches  some 
huts  of  rough  boards  torn  from  the  fiat-boats  were  hastily  put 
up  to  serve  as  shelter  till  a  clearing  could  be  made  and  the  city 
laid  out.  Meanwhile,  the  directors  were  not  idle.  A  pamphlet, 
written  by  Cutler  in  praise  of  the  western  territory,  was 
widely  distributed.  Absurd  reports  were  circulated  describing 
the  country  as  a  new  land  of  promise,  as  the  garden  of  the 
world,  as  the  seat  of  wealth,  as  the  centre  of  a  great  empire. 
Emigrants  were  offered  farms  at  a  few  shillings  an  acre  and 
transportation  free,  and  so  many  made  haste  to  avail  themselves 

*  See  proceedings  of  meetings  held  at  Brackett's  Tavern,  November  21  and  23, 
1787,  in  a  pamphlet  called  Contract  of  the  Ohio  Company  with  the  Honorable 
Board  of  Treasury,  etc.     Also,  New  York  Journal,  December  14,  1787. 

f  Western  Monthly  Magazine,  May,  1833,vol.  i,  p.  395.  Albach's  Western  Annals. 

\  Youghiogheny,  or  Youghioghany,  is  the  English  spelling  of  one  of  the  many 
names  the  Indians  gave  the  Ohio.  Indeed,  Ohio  was  derived  by  the  French  from 
yOugHIOghany.  Bancroft's  History  of  the  Formation  of  the  Constitution,  vol.  i, 
p.  169,  note. 

*  My  account  of  the  New  England  Ohio  Company  is  taken  chiefly  from  Letters 
on  the  First  Settlement  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  by  Jacob  Burnet.     A  Frag 
ment  of  the  Early  History  of  Ohio,  by  Arius  Nye.     Indian  Wars  of  the  West,  by 
Flint.     Harris's  Tour  in  the  West.     Walker's  Annual  Discourse,  and  the  extracts 
from  Cutler's  Journal  published  in  the  North  American  Review,  October,  1841. 


1788.  MARIETTA  FOUNDED.  515 

of  the  company's  offer  that  by  the  middle  of  April  a  second 
party  set  out  under  Cutler.  They  went  by  land,  driving  their 
wagons  and  stock  before  them,  to  Wheeling.  There  they  took 
flat-boats  down  the  Ohio,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  first  of 
July  came  in  sight  of  the  log  huts  of  their  companions.  Next 
day  a  meeting  of  all  the  settlers  was  held  at  the  water's  edge 
to  name  the  place.  Many  terms  were  discussed.  But  it  was 
finally  decided  to  call  the  city  after  Marie  Antoinette  of  France, 
and  to  bestow  upon  it  the  name  of  Marietta.  The  great  square 
where  the  block-house  stood  was  to  be  known  as  Campus  Mar 
tins,  another  was  called  Quodranaou,  a  third  Cecilia,  a  fourth 
Capitolium.  The  broad  road  chopped  through  the  woods  to 
Quodranaou  was  dignified  with  the  appellation  of  Yia  Sacra. 
Thus  was  founded  the  first  settlement  in  what  is  now  the  State 
of  Ohio.  But  two  months  had  not  gone  by  before  a  rival  city 
sprang  up  a  few  miles  farther  down  the  river.* 

A  month  after  the  sale  to  the  Ohio  Company  an  offer  was 
made  to  Congress  by  John  Cleve  Symmes  to  buy  two  millions 
of  acres  between  the  Little  and  the  Great  Miamis.  Symmes 
was  a  Jerseyman  of  wealth,  had  visited  the  Shawanese  country, 
had  been  greatly  pleased  with  its  fertility,  and  had  come  away 
declaring  that  every  acre  in  the  wildest  part  was  worth  a  silver 
dollar.  It  was  too,  he  thought,  only  a  question  of  time,  and  a 


*  An  Account  of  the  Campus  Martius  at  the  City  of  Marietta,  Territory  of  the 
United  States  Northwest  of  the  River  Ohio.  Illustrated  by  an  Elegant  Engraving. 
Columbian  Magazine,  November,  1788.  A  letter  from  Rufus  Putnam  in  Vermont 
Gazette,  January  12,  1789.  A  description  of  Marietta  in  the  New  York  Packet, 
August  27,  1789.  See,  also,  a  pamphlet  called  Oration  at  Marietta,  Ohio,  July  4, 
1788,  etc  ,  with  the  Proceedings  of  the  Inhabitants  of  the  City  of  Marietta.  New- 
port,  R.  I.,  1788.  The  orator  was  J.  M.  Varnum,  the  lawyer  for  the  butchers  in 
the  famous  case  of  Trevett  against  Weeden.  Cutler  went  out  with  the  party  in  the 
summer  of  1788.  Some  extracts  from  the  diary  of  his  journey  from  Hamilton 
to  Marietta  are  given  in  the  New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register 
for  April,  July,  and  October,  1860.  The  entry  under  date  of  Friday,  August  15, 
1788,  is  worth  quoting.  "This  morning  we  went  pretty  early  to  the  boats.  Gen 
eral  Tupper  had  mentioned  to  me  a  mode  for  constructing  a  machine  to  work  in 
the  head  or  stern  of  a  boat  instead  of  oars.  It  appeared  to  me  highly  probable 
that  it  might  succeed.  I  therefore  proposed  that  we  should  make  the  experiment. 
Assisted  by  a  number  of  the  people,  we  went  to  work  and  constructed  a  machine 
in  the  form  of  a  screw,  with  short  blades,  and  placed  it  in  the  stern  of  the  boat, 
which  we  turned  with  a  crank.  It  succeeded  to  admiration,  and  I  think  it  a  very 
useful  discovery." 


516          THE   CONSTITUTION  BEFORE  THE  PEOPLE.    OHAP.  v. 

very  short  time,  when  this  value  would  be  doubled  and  tripled. 
Thousands  of  immigrants  were  pouring  into  the  valley  each 
year,  hundreds  of  thousands  of  acres  were  being  taken  up,  and 
the  day  would  soon  come  when  the  rich  land  along  the  Miamis 
and  the  Ohio  would  be  in  great  demand.  There  was  therefore 
a  mighty  fortune  in  store  for  the  lucky  speculator  who  should 
buy  land  from  Congress  for  five  shillings  an  acre  and  sell  it  to 
immigrants  for  twenty.  But  Symmes,  while  he  had  the  fore 
sight,  wanted  the  energy,  the  shrewdness,  the  keen  knowledge 
of  men  and  of  the  world  that  so  eminently  distinguished  Cut 
ler.  His  business  lagged,  and  though  his  offer  to  purchase  was 
made  in  August,  1Y8T,  it  was  the  fifteenth  of  May,  1788,  be 
fore  the  contract  was  closed.  In  the  mean  time  he  put  out  a 
pamphlet  and  made  known  his  terms  of  sale.  A  copy  soon 
fell  into  the  hands  of  Matthias  Denman.  He  became  interested 
in  the  scheme  and  purchased  that  section  on  which  now  stands 
the  city  of  Cincinnati.  One  third  he  kept,  one  third  he  sold 
to  Robert  Patterson,  and  the  remainder  to  John  Filson. 

The  conditions  of  the  purchase  from  Symmes  gave  them 
two  years  in  which  to  begin  making  clearings  and  building 
huts.  But  the  three  determined  to  lose  no  time,  and  at  once 
made  ready  to  lay  out  a  city  directly  opposite  that  spot  where 
the  waters  of  the  Licking  mingle  themselves  with  the  Ohio. 
Denman  and  Patterson  were  no  scholars.  But  Filson  had  once 
been  a  school-master,  knew  a  little  of  Latin  and  something  of 
history,  and  to  him  was  assigned  the  duty  of  choosing  a  name 
for  the  town.  He  performed  the  task  in  a  way  that  must  have 
excited  the  admiration  of  the  humble  race  of  pedagogues  to 
which  he  belonged.  The  melodious  Indian  names  were  too 
barbarous  for  his  scholarly  taste.  And  as  he  could  recall  none 
among  cities  ancient  or  modern  quite  to  his  liking,  he  de 
termined  to  make  one,  and  produced  a  word  that  was  a  most 
absurd  mixture  of  Latin,  Greek,  and  French.  He  called  the 
place  Losantiville,  which,  being  interpreted,  means  the  city 
opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Licking.  A  few  weeks  later  the 
Indians  scalped  him. 

Though  the  spot  was  selected  and  named  in  August,  Christ 
mas  came  before  Patterson  left  Maysville  with  a  company  of 
fourteen  backwoodsmen  to  mark  out  the  streets  and  put  up  the 


1788.  THE  RAGE   FOR   WESTERN  EMIGRATION  BEGINS,    517 

first  huts  of  Losantiville.*  As  they  picked  their  way  between 
the  cakes  of  ice  that  obstructed  the  river,  they  came  in  sight 
of  the  Little  Miami,  and  there,  on  a  broad  flat,  beheld  the 
block-house  and  the  half-finished  cabins  of  Columbia. 

Emigration  to  the  West  now  became  the  rage  of  the  time. 
Every  small  farmer  whose  barren  acres  were  covered  with 
mortgages,  whose  debts  pressed  heavily  upon  him,  or  whose 
roving  spirit  gave  him  no  peace,  was  eager  to  sell  his  home 
stead  for  what  it  would  bring,  save  what  he  could  from  the 
general  wreck,  and  begin  life  anew  on  the  banks  of  the  Mus- 
kingum  or  the  Ohio.  And  so  many  did  so  that  at  the  return 
of  every  spring  hundreds  of  boats  went  down  the  Ohio  heavy 
with  cattle  and  household  goods.  One  observer  at  Fort  Pitt 
wrote  home  that  between  the  first  of  March  and  the  middle  of 
April,  1787,  he  saw  fifty  flat-boats  set  off  for  the  settlements.! 
Another  at  Fort  Finney  saw  thirty-four  boats  pass  in  thirty- 
nine  day&4  The  adjutant  at  Fort  Harmar  had  taken  the  pains 
to  count  the  boats  that  floated  by  the  garrison  from  October, 
1786,  to  May,  1787,  and  declared  that  they  numbered  one  hun 
dred  and  seventy-seven,  and  carried  upward  of  twenty-seven 
hundred  souls. #  Another  safe  authority  estimated  that  no  less 
than  ten  thousand  emigrants  went  by  Marietta  in  1788.  |  In 
deed,  forty-five  hundred  were  reported  as  having  passed  Fort 
Harmar  between  February  and  June.A  In  New  England  the 
success  of  the  Ohio  Company  in  procuring  emigrants  was  im 
mense.  They  advertised,  they  put  out  pamphlets  assuring  the 

*  The  first  huts  were,  like  those  of  Marietta,  made  from  the  settlers'  boats. 
The  custom  of  building  houses  with  boards  that  had  once  made  the  rude  "  arks  " 
that  floated  down  the  river  continued  long  after  saw-mills  had  become  numerous. 
A  writer  who  saw  Cincinnati  in  1797  remarks:  "There  was  not  one  brick  house 
in  the  city.     The  houses,  and  there  were  very  few  of  them,  were  principally  of 
boat-planks   taken   from  the  flat-boats  in  which   emigrants   had  descended  the 
river."   Reminiscences  of  Judge  McLean.   Historical  Magazine,  June,  1860,  p.  177. 
See,  also,  Historical  Magazine,  vol.   iv,  p.  316.     A  description  of  the  houses  of 
the  early  settlers  in  the  West  is  given  in  Drake's  Pioneer  Life  in  Kentucky.     For 
some  facts  regarding  the  early  settlement  of  Cincinnati,  see  the  testimony  of  Den- 
man,  Patterson,  Ludlow,  and  others  in  the  Chancery  Suit  of  the  City  of  Cincinnati 
against  Joel  Williams  in  1807. 

f  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  June  20,  1787.  \  Ibid.,  March  29,  1786. 

*  Independent  Gazetteer,  July  10,  1787 ;  also,  American  Museum. 
|j  Columbian  Magazine  for  October,  1788,  p.  390. 

A  Albach's  Annals  of  the  West,  p.  478. 


518          THE   CONSTITUTION  BEFORE  THE  PEOPLE.    CHAP.  Y. 

people  that  a  man  of  push  and  courage  could  nowhere  be 
so  prosperous  and  so  happy  as  in  the  West.  The  climate  was 
delightful.  Rain  was  abundant.  The  soil  rich  and  watered 
by  broad  rivers,  along  whose  banks  were  great  bottoms  and 
natural  meadows  from  twenty  to  fifty  miles  in  circuit.  There 
the  forests  of  oak  and  black-walnut,  sycamore  and  maple  were 
free  from  underbrush,  and  the  noble  trees  thrust  out  their 
branches  so  far  on  every  side  that  a  man  in  a  single  day  could 
clear  an  acre  of  land  fit  for  planting  Indian  corn.  Indeed,  the 
trees  were  so  far  apart  he  need  not  chop  them  down.  He  had 
but  to  girdle  them,  while  each  maple  he  spared  would  yield 
him  ten  pounds  of  sugar  every  year.*  In  no  long  time,  there 
fore,  the  company's  lumbering  wagon,  with  its  black  canvas 
cover  and  flaming  inscription,  "  To  Marietta  on  the  Ohio,"  be 
came  a  familiar  sight.f  At  first  the  departure  of  so  many  men 
from  the  States  was  little  heeded,  for  they  were  believed  to 
be  broken-dowrn  farmers  and  Shayites  going  to  retrieve  their 
fortunes  and  their  honor  in  the  West.  But  when  it  was  noticed 
that  behind  the  wagon  rode  numbers  of  most  robust  and  prom 
ising  youths,  the  alarm  of  the  people  broke  forth  in  bitter 
complaints.  The  scheme  was  denounced  in  the  coffee-houses 
as  a  wicked  plot  to  drain  the  East  of  its  best  blood.  The  op 
ponents  of  the  company  put  out  a  number  of  pamphlets  against 
it,J  and  wrote  much  bad  verse  on  Cutler.  The  poor  fools, 
it  was  said,  were  being  enticed  from  comfortable  homes  under 
the  promise  that  they  were  going  to  a  land  of  more  than  tropi- 

*  See  An  Explanation  of  the  Map  which  delineates  that  part  of  the  Federal 
Lands  comprised  between  Pennsylvania  West  Line,  the  River  Ohio,  Scioto,  and 
Lake  Erie.  Salem,  1787,  p.  10. 

f  Flint  declares  that  he  "  distinctly  remembers  the  wagon  that  carried  out  a 
number  of  adventurers  from  the  counties  of  Essex  and  Middlesex,  in  Massachu 
setts,  on  the  second  emigration  to  the  woods  of  Ohio.  He  remembers  the  black 
canvas  covering  of  the  wagon,  the  white  and  large  lettering  in  capitals,  '  To 
Marietta  on  the  Ohio.' "  Flint's  Indian  Wars  of  the  West,  p.  143. 

\  A  number  of  these  curious  pamphlets  are  still  to  be  found  in  old  family 
garrets.  Some  of  them  were  illustrated  with  rude  cuts.  Says  Walker :  "  I  have 
a  distinct  recollection  of  a  picture  which  I  saw  in  boyhood  prefixed  to  a  penny 
anti-moving-to-Ohio  pamphlet,  in  which  a  stout,  ruddy,  well-dressed  man  on  a 
sleek,  fat  horse,  with  a  label,  '  I  am  going  to  Ohio,'  meets  a  pale  and  ghastly 
skeleton  of  a  man,  scarcely  half  dressed,  on  the  wreck  of  what  was  once  a  horse 
.  .  .  with  a  label,  'I  have  been  to  Ohio.'  "  Annual  Discourse  in  Transactions  of 
the  Historical  and  Philosophical  Society  of  Ohio.  Part  ii,  pp.  194. 


1788.  DISCONTENT  IN  KENTUCKY.  519 

cal  richness ;  to  a  land  where  they  should  reap  without  having 
sown,  and  gather  without  having  ploughed.  But  in  truth  the 
climate  was  cold,  the  land  sterile  and  sickly,  and  the  woods 
full  of  Indians,  panthers,  and  hoop-snakes.* 

The  East,  however,  stood  in  much  less  danger  of  losing 
her  young  men  and  her  young  blood  than  the  Confederation  of 
losing  the  whole  region  between  the  Alleghany  Mountains  and 
the  Mississippi.  In  truth,  that  the  settlements  along  the  Hol- 
ston  and  the  Tennessee  did  not  revolt  in  1Y88  and  go  over  to 
Spain,  was  not  the  fault  of  one  of  the  boldest,  most  unprincipled 
of  men.  Nowhere  in  the  United  States  at  that  time  were  the 
people  so  discontented  and  unhappy.  The  evils  of  which  they 
complained  were  near  and  pressing.  Yet  everything  they  had 
done  for  the  alleviation  of  their  condition  served  but  to  in 
crease  their  miseries.  The  men  of  one  district  had  broken 
away  from  North  Carolina,  had  formed  the  State  of  Franklin, 
and  made  Sevier  their  Governor.  But  the  State  of  Franklin 
no  longer  existed.  North  Carolina  had  restored  her  authority, 
and  Sevier,  outlawed  and  attainted,  was  hunting  buffalo  and 
fighting  Cherokees  far  beyond  the  borders  of  civilization.  The 
men  of  another  district  had  begged  Virginia  to  let  them  go, 
and  had  petitioned  Congress  to  make  of  their  district  a  State. 
The  request  was  refused.  Angry  and  excited  at  the  treatment  ac 
corded  them  by  friends,  they  now  began  to  think  of  seeking  aid 
of  ancient  foes,  and  in  a  short  time  were  broken  into  five  factions. 

The  most  reckless  were  for  taking  up  arms,  quitting  the 
Confederation,  forming  a  new  republic,  and  allying  themselves 
closely  with  Spain.  A  second  party,  composed  of  men  who 
hated  Spaniards  even  more  than  Indians,  were  for  fighting 
Spain  and  seizing  Louisiana.  These  were  opposed  by  a  set 
who  declared  they  were  eager  to  leave  the  Union,  but  wished 
to  see  the  country  under  the  crown  of  Spain.  Some,  remem 
bering  the  great  things  which  France  had  done  in  the  late  war, 
were  for  soliciting  Louis  to  obtain  a  retrocession  of  Louisiana, 
and  to  spread  his  authority  over  Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 
Others  expressed  a  firm  conviction  that  by  a  proper  show  of 
force  they  could  extort  the  free  use  of  the  Mississippi  from 
Spain  without  throwing  off  the  authority  of  Congress. 

*  Flint's  Indian  Wars  of  the  West,  p.  144. 


520          THE   CONSTITUTION  BEFORE  THE  PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

Chief  among  these  was  James  Wilkinson.  "Wilkinson  was 
a  great  favorite  with  the  settlers.  Indeed,  since  the  failure  of 
the  Wabash  expedition  and  the  disgrace  of  Clark,  no  man  in 
the  valley  stood  higher.  But  in  such  a  state  of  society  he 
who  would  lead  must  be  quick  to  foresee  and  quick  to  per 
form  the  wish  of  the  people,  and  must  ever  be  doing  deeds 
that  will  make  him  the  talk  of  the  country  far  and  near.  This 
"Wilkinson  well  knew,  and  determined  to  add  to  his  popularity, 
if  possible,  by  opening  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi.  His 
first  step  was  to  try  the  temper  of  the  Spaniards.  For  this 
purpose  he  procured  a  flat-boat,  loaded  it  with  flour,  tobacco, 
bacon,  and  hams,  and  sent  it  down  the  Mississippi,  bound  for 
New  Orleans.  A  few  days  later  he  set  out  himself.  Every 
thing  went  well  with  the  boat  till  Natchez  was  reached.  There 
it  was  hailed,  stopped,  and  examined.  The  commandants  along 
the  river  had  orders  to  seize  and  sell  all  American  vessels  that 
came  in  their  way.  But  when  the  Spanish  officer  at  Natchez 
learned  whose  property  the  craft  was,  he  hesitated,  arid  finally 
set  it  free,  for  he  was  not  disposed  to  meddle  with  the  goods 
of  a  general  officer,  and  of  so  distinguished  a  general  officer  as 
Wilkinson.  At  New  Orleans,  however,  the  authorities  knew 
nothing  of  Wilkinson,  nothing  of  Kentucky,  and  were  not  in 
clined  to  show  any  forbearance  toward  the  General's  flat-boat. 
Indeed,  the  iiitendant  was  about  to  confiscate  the  cargo,  when 
a  merchant  of  some  influence  in  the  city,  and  who  knew  Wil 
kinson  well  by  reputation,  waited  on  the  Governor.  He  told 
Miro,  who  was  as  ignorant  of  Kentucky  as  of  Maine,  that  the 
measures  taken  by  the  intendant  would  in  all  probability 
give  rise  to  unpleasant  consequences.  The  Kentuckians  were, 
he  said,  already  exasperated  beyond  endurance  at  the  behavior 
of  the  Spaniards.  They  were  a  bold  and  fearless  race,  were 
determined  to  have  the  use  of  the  river,  and  if  the  system  of 
seizing  their  vessels  went  on,  it  was  quite  likely  that  they 
would,  in  spite  of  Congress,  undertake  to  open  the  Mississippi 
by  force,  and  they  were  well  able  to  do  it.  The  merchant 
hinted,  also,  that  Wilkinson  was  very  popular,  that  he  had  great 
influence  over  the  Kentuckians,  and  that  his  boat-load  of  flour 
and  pork  was  sent  down  in  the  hope  of  finding  some  excuse  to 
pick  a  quarrel.  If  his  property  were  captured,  he  would  raise 


1788.  WILKINSON  AND  MIRO.  521 

a  great  outcry,  rouse  the  whole  country,  and  come  over  the 
border  with  several  thousands  of  the  best  shots  in  the  valley. 

Miro  was  much  alarmed,  thanked  the  merchant  for  his  in 
formation,  and  intimated  to  the  intendant  that  it  would  be 
well  to  withdraw  the  guard  from  the  boat.  This  was  done, 
and  the  goods  were  allowed  to  be  sold  free  of  duty.  When 
Wilkinson  came,  and  heard  under  what  obligations  he  lay  to 
his  unknown  friend,  he  went  to  him,  expressed  his  gratitude, 
and  the  two  soon  formed  a  plan  for  future  work.  He  next 
went  to  the  Governor.  That  he  might  not  seem  to  stoop  from 
the  high  character  given  of  him  by  seeming  to  be  concerned 
in  so  small  a  matter  as  a  boat-load  of  flour  and  hams,  he  framed 
and  told  to  Miro  a  great  lie.  The  barrels  and  flitches,  he  said, 
were  not  his.  They  belonged  to  some  Kentuckians  who  wished 
to  make  a  trial  of  the  temper  of  the  Spanish  Government.  It 
was  expected  that  the  vessel  would  be  captured.  He  was 
merely  to  look  on,  and  when  he  went  back  to  the  States,  report 
to  Congress  what  he  had  seen.  He  was  deeply  sensible  of  ah1 
the  kindness  that  had  been  shown  to  him.  But  on  no  account 
should  the  Governor  expose  himself  to  the  anger  of  the  Span 
ish  Court  by  refusing  to  seize  the  cargo.  It  was  a  mere  trifle, 
and  the  commands  of  his  Catholic  Majesty  were  perhaps  im 
perative.*  This  confirmed  the  worst  fears  of  Miro.  He  was 
sure  that  an  invasion  was  meditated.  He  believed  that  Wil 
kinson  was  a  man  of  much  power,  and  well  able  to  delay,  if 
not  to  hinder,  the  attack,  which  at  every  rise  of  the  river  he 
expected  would  be  made.  He  determined,  therefore,  to  win 
over  Wilkinson.  ~No  bait  was  then  so  tempting  as  the  right 
of  free  trade  with  New  Orleans.  This  the  wily  Spaniard  held 
out,  Wilkinson  took  it,  and  the  two  struck  a  bargain.  The 
General  was  to  do  all  that  lay  in  his  power  to  bring  the  people 
of  Kentucky  to  the  side  of  Spain.  In  return  for  his  services 
he  was  promised  a  ready  market  at  New  Orleans  for  all  the 
flour  and  tobacco  he  might  send.  The  reward  was  a  rich  one, 
for  a  hundred- weight  of  tobacco  which  cost  in  Kentucky  two 
Spanish  dollars,  sold,  at  New  Orleans,  for  nine  Spanish  dollars 
and  a  half. 

*  See  the  statement  of  Daniel  Clark,  nephew  of  Wilkinson's  agent,  in  Annals 
of  the  West,  Albach,  p.  489. 


522          THE   CONSTITUTION   BEFORE   THE  PEOPLE.    CHAP.  v. 

Wilkinson  hastened  home.  But  he  had  not  been  many  weeks 
in  the  valley  when  news  came  to  him  that  Colonel  Connolly, 
of  the  British  army,  was  at  Louisville.  Connolly  had  come 
through  the  woods  from  Detroit  to  the  Big  Miami,  had  there 
taken  a  canoe  and  an  Indian  guide  and  paddled  down  the  river 
to  the  Ohio  and  on  to  Louisville.  He  declared  that  his  busi 
ness  was  to  look  after  some  lands  he  once  owned  at  the  falls. 
But  Wilkinson,  who  was  a  practised  liar,  mistrusted  him,  and 
resolved  to  find  out  the  real  purpose  of  his  visit.  He  accord 
ingly  asked  Connolly  to  come  and  spend  some  time  with  him, 
and  Connolly  did  so.  Wilkinson  treated  him  with  marked 
kindness,  won  his  confidence,  sounded  him  on  the  navigation 
of  the  Mississippi,  and  soon  found  out  the  secret.  Indeed, 
Connolly  confided  to  him  in  private  that  Great  Britain  was 
eager  to  strip  Spain  of  Louisiana,  and  opened  to  him  the  whole 
plan  of  operations.  Troops  could  not  be  spared  from  Canada 
and  the  forts  the  British  still  held  on  American  ground.  But 
Sir  Guy  Carleton,  who  had  become  Lord  Dorchester,  stood 
ready  to  help  the  Kentuckians  in  a  war  with  Spain.  He  would 
send  money,  clothes,  and  muskets  for  ten  thousand  men  the 
moment  such  an  army  was  collected.  He  would  raise  two 
regiments  in  Kentucky,  and  as  it  was  necessary  to  have  the 
troops  commanded  by  skilful  officers,  every  veteran  of  the  late 
war  who  would  enlist  was  to  have  the  same  rank  in  the  British 
army  that  he  once  held  in  the  continental  army.  As  for  Wil 
kinson,  he  had  but  to  name  his  terms. 

To  all  this  the  arch  plotter  listened  with  gravity,  and  the 
moment  he  had,  to  use  his  own  words,  "pumped  out  of  Con 
nolly  all  that  he  wished  to  know,"  began  to  look  coldly  on  the 
scheme.  It  was,  he  said,  not  yet  five  years  since  peace  had 
been  declared.  The  bitter  feelings  engendered  by  the  war  were 
still  fresh.  The  Americans  hated  the  British  with  an  implaca 
ble  hatred,  and  never  could  be  brought  to  join  with  them  in 
any  undertaking.  This  was  true  all  over  the  continent.  But 
it  was  especially  true  in  Kentucky.  In  that  district  the  people 
had  seen  their  settlements  attacked,  their  houses  burned,  their 
friends  and  kinsfolk  shot,  scalped,  maimed,  and  tortured  by  the 
Indians.  And  these  atrocities  they  firmly  believed  had  been 
instigated  by  the  British.  Connolly  protested  that  this  was  a 


1789.          KENTUCKIANS  FIT  OUT  AN  EXPEDITION.  523 

mistake.  Wilkinson  assured  his  guest  that  it  was  not,  and  be* 
lieving  him  to  be  a  blusterer  and  a  coward,  determined  to  play 
upon  him.  He  sent  accordingly  for  an  old  trapper  and  hunter 
in  whom  he  could  rely,  made  known  his  wishes,  and  hired  him 
to  make  a  feigned  attack  on  Connolly's  life.  The  thing  was 
done.  The  trapper  was  seized,  brought  before  Wilkinson,  who 
was  a  civil  justice,  sharply  questioned,  and  declared  that  the 
Indians  had  killed  his  son,  that  he  believed  they  had  been  set 
on  by  the  British,  and  that  he  meant  in  revenge  to  have  the  life 
of  every  Englishman  that  came  in  his  way.  He  was  remanded 
to  the  custody  of  the  sheriff  and  locked  up  for  a  few  hours. 
The  prisoner  was  scarcely  out  of  the  room  when  Wilkinson 
assured  Connolly  that  the  law  was  unable  to  protect  him,  that 
he  was  in  great  danger,  and  would  be  a  lucky  man  if  he  got  off 
with  his  life.  The  ruse  succeeded.  Connolly  was  terribly 
frightened,  said  he  would  go  at  once,  and  begged  hard  for  an 
escort  to  conduct  him  out  of  Kentucky.  This  was  readily 
given,  and  on  the  twentieth  of  November  he  recrossed  the 
Ohio  on  his  way  back  to  Detroit.* 

When  Wilkinson  found  himself  rid  of  Dorchester's  agent 
he  began  at  once  to  make  ready  for  a  second  expedition  to 
New  Orleans.  Boats  were  secured,  arms  and  ammunition  laid 
in,  and  in  a  few  weeks  great  stores  of  flour,  bacon,  tobacco, 
butter,  and  hams  were  on  their  way  to  Louisville.  By  the  last 
of  December  all  preparations  were  finished,  and  early  in  Janu 
ary  of  the  new  year  the  expedition  set  out  amid  the  shouts  and 
blessings  of  the  whole  town.  It  was  a  white  day  for  Wilkin 
son.  Never  had  he  been  so  popular.  He  was  looked  on  as  a 
great  deliverer.  He  had  opened  the  Mississippi.  He  had 
made  a  market,  and  emptied  countless  rude  warehouses  and 
barns  where  for  three  years  the  kindly  fruits  of  the  earth  had 
been  stored  up,  and  where,  but  for  him,  they  might  have 
stayed  till  they  were  eaten  by  rats  and  worms,  or  become  foul 
from  decay.  The  little  fleet  which  was  to  carry  this  produce 
to  New  Orleans  numbered  twenty-five  flat-boats  of  the  largest 
size.  Each  bore  the  Kentucky  colors,  and  was  armed  with  a 
swivel  gun.  Some  few  had  three-pounders.  The  fighting 

*  These  facts  are  related  in  a  letter  written  by  Wilkinson  to  Miro,  February 
12,  1789.     See  Gayarrc's  Spanish  Domination  of  Louisiana. 


524          THE   CONSTITUTION  BEFORE   THE  PEOPLE.    CHAP,  v 

force  was  one  hundred  and  fifty  men,  well  drilled  and  officered, 
for  it  was  thought  not  unlikely  that  some  severe  fighting  would 
be  done  before  the  boats  made  fast  to  the  levee  at  New  Or 
leans.* 

The  example  of  Wilkinson  was  soon  followed  by  others, 
and  dozens  of  flat-boats  were  hastily  put  together,  filled  with 
produce,  and  dispatched  to  New  Orleans.  So  much  wheat, 
pork,  and  corn  went  down  the  Mississippi  in  the  winter  months 
that,  when  spring  came,  in  the  rich  counties  of  Westmoreland 
and  Washington  the  cost  of  food  had  risen  sixty  per  cent.f 

*  Extracts  of  a  letter  from  a  Gentleman  at  Louisville  (falls  of  the  Ohio)  to  the 
editor  of  the  New  York  Journal,  January  16,  1789.  See  New  York  Journal, 
March  5,  1789. 

f  See  a  letter  dated  Marietta,  March  10,  1790.  Freeman's  Journal,  May  12, 
1790. 


1789.  PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTORS.  525 


CHAPTEE  VI. 

THE   FEDERAL    GOVERNMENT. 

THE  same  issue  of  the  Journal  that  informed  its  readers  of 
the  departure  of  Wilkinson's  fleet  alsd  made  known  to  them 
the  ceremonies  with  which  the  citizens  of  New  York  bade 
farewell  to  the  Confederation,  and  gave  a  welcome  to  the  Con 
stitution. 

While  the  Kentuckians  were  busy  making  ready  for  their 
voyage  to  New  Orleans,  their  friends  in  the  East  were  not  less 
occupied  choosing  electors  and  members  of  the  new  Congress. 
In  obedience  to  the  provisions  of  the  law,  elections  were  held 
on  the  first  Wednesday  in  January,  1789,  for  presidential  elec 
tors.  Everywhere  the  day  passed  off  quietly,  and  before  night 
electors  were  chosen  in  all  the  ratifying  States  save  New  York. 
In  that  commonwealth  the  voting  was  to  be  done  by  the  Legis 
lature,  and  there,  at  the  very  start,  the  absurd  law  produced  a 
quarrel.  The  Assembly  was  full  of  the  creatures  of  Clinton, 
and  strongly  Antifederal.  The  Senate  was  strongly  Federal. 
The  Lower  House  demanded  a  joint  ballot,  which  would  have 
sent  two  Antifederalists  to  the  Senate  and  ten  to  the  Electoral 
College.  The  Upper  House  demanded  a  concurrent  vote,  which 
would  undoubtedly  have  given  it  one  senator  and  five  electors. 
But  the  Assembly  refused,  the  Senate  stood  firm,  and  the  Leg 
islature  adjourned.  New  York,  therefore,  cast  no  vote  for  the 
first  President,  nor  did  she,  during  much  of  the  first  session  of 
the  first  Congress,  have  any  representative  on  the  floor  of  the 
Upper  House.* 

A  less  serious  quarrel  took  place  in  New  Hampshire.     The 

*  A  report  of  the  debates  in  the  Legislature  during  this  dispute  is  given  in  the 
New  York  Daily  Advertiser,  January  10,  12,  1789. 


526  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

Senate  claimed  the  right  to  negative  the  choice  of  the  House. 
The  Assembly  indignantly  denied  it,  but  toward  midnight 
yielded,  entered  a  solemn  protest,  and  chose  electors,  every  one 
of  whom  was  an  undoubted  Federalist.*  The  most  exciting 
election  was  perhaps  in  Maryland.  There  the  choice  of  electors 
was  with  the  people,  and  the  State  being  much  given  to  Anti- 
federalism  and  paper  money,  two  tickets  were  soon  before  the 
voters.  Meetings  were  held,  addresses  published,  each  party 
accused  of  fraud,  and  the  country  districts  actively  canvassed. 
But  the  Federalists  assured  the  people  that  Washington  was 
their  candidate,  and  won  a  handsome  victory,  f  In  Virginia, 
also,  the  choice  was  left  to  the  direct  vote  of  the  people.  In 
Massachusetts  much  the  same  thing  was  done.  Two  electors 
were  chosen  at  large.  Eight  more  were  selected  by  the  Legis 
lature  from  twenty-four  names  sent  up  by  the  eight  congres 
sional  districts.  Elsewhere  the  election  was  by  the  Legisla 
tures  ;  in  some  by  a  joint  ballot,  in  others  by  a  concurrent  vote 
of  both  branches. 

A  whole  month  passed  before  the  electors  met.  Meanwhile, 
there  was  no  electioneering.  No  great  questions  were  as  yet 
at  stake.  There  were  no  rival  candidates,  there  was  no  halid- 
billing,  no  pamphleteering,  no  lampooning,  no  abuse.  The 
selection  of  a  President  lay  with  the  electors,  and  as  none  of 
them  were  pledged  to  any  name,  it  was  impossible  to  do  more 
than  speculate  on  the  result  of  the  balloting.  But  the  man 
must  indeed  have  been  ill-informed  who  did  not  know  that 
every  one  of  the  sixty-nine  gentlemen  would  cast  his  vote  for 
the  American  Fabius.  But  it  would  have  been  hard  to  say  on 
whom  the  choice  for  the  second  place  would  fall.  The  name  of 
John  Adams  was  much  in  the  papers.  But  Adams  had  many 
enemies.  Ho  came  of  'New  England  stock,  and  that  was  held 
by  many  to  be  a  good  reason  why  the  southern  electors  should 
vote  for  some  one  else.  He  had  been  long  abroad,  and  some 
thought  he  had  acquired  strong  monarchical  notions  during  his 
residence  at  the  Hague  and  the  Court  of  St.  James.  He  had 

*  Freeman's  Journal,  February  4,  1789. 

f  The  accounts  of  the  meetings,  addresses,  and  election  returns  are  given  in 
the  Maryland  Journal,  January  2  and  6,  1789,  and  later.  See,  also,  Pennsylvania 
Mercury,  January  6,  1789. 


1789.      CLINTON"  NOMINATED  FOR  VICE-PRESIDENT.        527 

written  a  book  which  he  called  a  "  Defence  of  the  Constitu 
tions  of  Government  of  the  United  States  of  America."  But 
many  who  read  it  declared  it  was  not  a  defence,  but  an  insidi 
ous  attack.  Yet  Adams  withal  was  strong.  So  strong,  indeed, 
that  some  of  his  enemies,  who  sought  to  ruin  his  chances, 
stooped  to  means  which,  to  say  the  least,  were  not  respectable. 
Among  them,  to  his  shame,  was  Hamilton. 

The  stronghold  of  the  opponents  of  Adams  was  New  York. 
That  city  had  long  been  foremost  in  a  show  of  Antifederal 
spirit,  and  there,  in  the  autumn  of  1787,  not  long  after  the 
Constitution  had  been  submitted  to  the  people,  the  Clinton 
men  organized  themselves  for  opposition  under  the  name  of 
Federal  Republicans.*  The  great  body  of  the  party  was  made 
up  of  State-righters  and  paper-money  men,  those  who  had 
resented  the  return  of  the  Loyalists,  had  defeated  the  impost, 
had  stood  out  against  the  Federal  Convention,  and  had  loudly 
praised  Lansing  and  Yates  for  what  they  were  pleased  to  call  a 
display  of  patriotism  when  those  two  gentlemen  left  Philadel 
phia  in  a  huff.  The  chiefs  of  the  party  were  the  men  wlio, 
in  the  troubled  time  before  the  war,  had  risen  to  note  as  the 
leading  spirits  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty.  But  the  most  active, 
the  most  partisan,  the  most  bitter  among  them  were  Marinus 
Willet,  Smith,  Tillinghast,  and  his  father-in-law,  General  John 
Lamb.  Lamb,  indeed,  was  chairman,  and  presided  at  the 
weekly  meetings  at  Fraunces's  Tavern,  when  the  conduct  of  the 
party  at  Poughkeepsie  was  discussed,  when  the  explanation 
was  drawn  up,  and  the  urgent  circular  to  the  States  calling  for 
a  new  convention  was  sent  out.  f 

Meanwhile,  the  day  for  the  choice  of  electors  drew  near, 
and  the  Federal  Republicans  were  all  activity.  Against  Wash 
ington  they  had  not  a  word  to  say.  But  the  man  for  the 
vice-presidency  was  to  their  minds  George  Clinton.  They 
canvassed,  they  disputed,  they  corresponded,  and  finally  sent 
out  a  circular  letter  in  his  behalf.  It  was  necessary,  such  was 
the  substance  of  their  appeal  to  the  voters,  to  have  in  the  new 
Government  some  man  eager  to  further  the  constitutional 

*  Life  of  General  John  Lamb,  by  J.  Q.  Leake,  p.  306. 

f  The  Circular  to  the  States  and  Counties  is  among  the  Tillinghast  Papers  ia 
the  New  York  Historical  Society. 


528  THE  FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

amendments  so  many  States  had  made  the  condition  of  ratifica 
tion.  Such  a  man  was  Governor  Clinton.  There  was  every 
reason  to  believe  that  the  ten  votes  of  New  York  would  be 
cast  in  his  favor.  Some  gentlemen  from  Virginia  had  been 
consulted,  and  had  declared  that  the  people  of  that  State  also 
had  it  in  view  to  support  him.  It  was  hoped,  therefore,  that 
the  voters  of  every  State  would  favor  the  scheme  of  making 
Clinton  Yice-President,  and  instruct  their  electors  accordingly.* 

Such  was  the  opposition  of  open  and  avowed  enemies. 
Very  different,  however,  was  the  opposition  of  Hamilton. 
He  was  great  as  a  party  manager.  No  one  in  his  day,  not 
even  Clinton,  nor  Burr,  surpassed  him.  But  the  political 
world  of  Hamilton's  time  was  ruled  chiefly  by  caucuses.  It 
was  through  the  agency  of  caucuses  that  the  revolution  was 
begun,  that  the  first  Congress  was  assembled,  that  independence 
was  declared,  that  the  Confederation  was  formed,  that  war  was 
carried  on,  that  the  way  was  made  ready  for  the  framing  of 
the  Constitution.  And  it  was  by  the  caucus  that  Hamilton 
sought  to  defeat  Adams. f  He  affected  alarm  at  the  poor  pros 
pects  of  Washington  and  the  fine  prospects  of  Adams.  He 
has  been  accused,  by  one  who  surely  knew,  of  exciting  equal 
alarm  among  the  Cincinnati.^:  He  sent  word  to  Virginia  that 
New  England  was  not  unanimous  for  Washington.  He  as 
sured  his  friends  in  New  England  that  Virginia  was  in  the 
same  condition.  It  is  certain  that  he  drew  away  five  votes 
from  Adams  in  New  Jersey,  and  even  caused  him  to  lose  two 
in  Connecticut. 

On  the  first  Tuesday  in  February,  the  day  before  the  elec 
tors  were  to  meet,  a  post  galloped  into  Hartford.  He  had  been 
sent,  he  told  the  Connecticut  electors,  for  it  was  to  them  he 
came,  by  Colonel  Hamilton.  He  reminded  them,  it  is  proba 
ble,  that  the  earnest  wish  of  every  Federalist  the  land  over  was 
that  the  first  presidency  of  the  republic  should  be  bestowed 

*  Leake's  Life  of  Lamb,  p.  326.  Clinton  got  but  three  votes,  and  these  three 
were  given  him  by  Virginia. 

f  "  Alexander  Hamilton,"  says  Mr.  Adams,  "  was  the  greatest  organist  that 
ever  played  upon  this  instrument "  (the  caucus).  Review  of  the  Propositions  for 
Amending  the  Constitution,  etc.  John  Adams's  Works,  vol.  vi. 

|  "  He  made  all  that  he  could  of  these  bodies  of  Cincinnati  and  others  to 
prevent  Mr.  Adams  being  chosen  Vice-President."  Review,  etc.  Adams's  Works. 


1789.  HAMILTON  OPPOSES  ADAMS.  529 

on  Washington.  Unhappily,  there  was  much  reason  to  fear 
that  the  balloting,  even  for  that  illustrious  character,  would  not 
be  unanimous.  There  was  doubt  about  the  southern  electors. 
Even  those  of  Virginia  were  divided,  and  it  was  not  unlikely, 
if  the  New  England  electors  did  not  cast  some  scattering  votes, 
that  Adams  would  be  chosen  President.  This  clearly  was  not 
the  wish  of  the  people.  The  Colonel,  therefore,  had  made  a 
close  and  careful  calculation,  and  found  that  if  New  Jersey 
threw  away  three  votes,  and  Connecticut  two,  all  would  go 
well  for  Washington  and  Adams.  Trumbull  protested  against 
this,  declared  it  must  be  all  a  deception,  and  said  he  could 
not  see  how  giving  two  votes  to  some  one  else  would  help 
Adams.*  But  he  was  silenced,  and  bidden  to  remember  that 
Hamilton  had  made  a  calculation,  and  been  at  the  pains  to  send 
a  post  to  acquaint  them  with  the  result.  Connecticut  there 
fore  gave  two  of  her  votes  to  Samuel  Huntington.  New 
Jersey  gave  five  of  her  six  to  John  Jay,  for  there,  too,  Hamil 
ton  had  been  busy. 

That  part  of  the  behavior  of  Hamilton  which  was  so  ob 
scure  to  Trumbull  admits  of  but  one  explanation.  His  anxiety 
for  the  success  of  Washington  was  assumed.f  His  calculation 
was  a  sham.  He  needed  no  calculation.  If  every  other  source 
of  information  had  been  closed  to  him,  he  would  still  have 
been  in  the  possession  of  one,  which  ought  to  have  calmed  his 
most  reasonable  fears  and  carried  conviction  to  his  mind  in 

*  "  Many  of  your  friends  were  duped  on  this  occasion.  I  will  inform  you 
how  it  was  managed  in  Connecticut.  On  the  day  before  the  election  Colonel 
Webb  came  on  express  to  Hartford,  sent,  as  he  said,  by  Colonel  Hamilton,  etc., 
who,  he  assured  us,  had  made  an  exact  calculation  on  the  subject,  and  found  that 
New  Jersey  was  to  throw  away  three  votes,  I  think,  and  Connecticut  two,  and  all 
would  be  well.  I  exclaimed  against  the  measure,  and  insisted  that  it  was  all  a 
deception ;  but  what  could  my  single  opinion  avail  against  an  express  armed  with 
intelligence  and  calculations  ?  So  our  electors  threw  away  two  votes  where  they 
were  sure  they  would  do  no  harm."  Trumbull  to  Adams.  See  Works  of  John 
Adams,  vol.  viii,  pp.  484,  485. 

f  4t  If  he  believed  one  word,"  says  Adams,  "  of  the  apprehensions  he  propa 
gated,  it  is  very  unaccountable  ;  for  there  was  a  very  great  certainty  in  the  public 
opinion  that  Washington  would  have  a  unanimous  vote."  Review,  etc.  John 
Adams's  Works.  A  careful  perusal  of  all  the  newspapers,  both  Federal  and  Anti- 
federal,  of  the  time,  published  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  shows  most  conclusively 
that  the  public  sentiment  was  overwhelmingly  strong  in  support  of  Washington 
for  the  presidency,  and  that  the  statement  of  Mr.  Adams  is  quite  just. 
VOL.  i. — 35 


530  THE   FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

its  most  wavering  moments.  He  had  been  present  in  the  Federal 
Convention  from  the  morning  when  Randolph  brought  forward 
the  Virginia  plan  to  the  morning  when  Yates  and  Lansing 
withdrew,  and  he  had  attended  on  many  days  after  they  left. 
He  had  listened  to  the  debates,  and  he  well  knew  with  what 
jealousy,  with  what  animosity,  the  South  even  then  beheld 
the  growing  importance  of  the  East.  That  he  should  there 
fore,  with  the  recollections  of  these  scenes  fresh  in  his  memory, 
have  really  believed  the  South  would  choose  Adams  and  reject 
Washington,  is  a  supposition  not  to  be  entertained.  The  truth 
seems  to  be,  he  was  bent  on  defeating  Adams,  and  to  do  this 
made  use  of  tricks  and  statements  that  have  left  a  dark  stain 
upon  his  character. 

As  the  time  drew  near  for  the  meeting  of  Congress,  elec 
tions  for  representatives  began  to  take  place  all  over  the  coun 
try.  Everywhere  the  excitement  was  great,  and  it  seemed 
when  the  reports  came  in  as  if  half  the  first  session  of  the 
House  would  be  taken  up  settling  contested  seats.  In  some 
places  the  polls  were  kept  open  for  many  weeks.  In  others 
the  two  parties  were  so  nearly  balanced  that  no  choice  was 
made  till  after  repeated  trials.  This  was  to  be  ascribed  in 
part  to  defective  laws,  and  in  part  to  absurd  methods  of  elect 
ing.  In  New  Jersey  the  law  was  silent  as  to  the  time  of 
closing  the  polls.  In  the  eastern  towns  of  that  State,  where 
party  spirit  flamed  high,  the  polls  were  therefore  kept  open 
for  three  weeks,  nor  would  they  have  been  shut  then  had 
not  the  Governor  named  a  day  after  which  no  returns  were 
to  be  received.*  In  Connecticut  it  was  the  custom  to  hold 
two  elections.  At  the  first,  three  candidates  were  chosen  for 
each  office.  Their  names  were  then  published,  and  after 
some  weeks  a  new  election  was  held  and  one  of  the  three 
chosen.  But  a  majority  of  the  votes  cast  was  necessary  to 
a  choice.  The  result  was  natural.  The  moment  parties  be 
came  nearly  equal  in  numbers,  neither  could  secure  the 
needed  majority ;  protracted  elections  followed,  party  ani- 

*  "  In  New  Jersey,  the  law  having  fixed  no  time  for  closing  the  polls,  they 
were  kept  open  three  or  four  weeks  in  some  of  the  counties  by  the  rival  jealousy 
between  the  eastern  and  western  divisions  of  the  State."  Madison  to  Washing 
ton,  March  19,  1789. 


1789.  ELECTION   OF  REPRESENTATIVES.  531 

mosity  grew  stronger  and  stronger,  and  in  the  mean  time  the 
office  was  vacant. 

The  evil  of  the  system  was  well  shown  in  Massachusetts. 
There  Shayism  still  throve,  and  every  follower  of  Shays  was 
a  firm  Antifederalist.  The  stronghold  of  the  party  was  the 
western  counties,  and  there  a  most  determined  effort  was  made 
to  elect  its  candidates.  But  so  closely  were  the  two  sides 
matched  that  election  after  election  took  place  without  any 
result.  At  last  the  Shayites  of  Worcester  county  made  a  des 
perate  effort,  brought  in  voters  from  the  most  distant  places, 
and  sent  Grout,  an  Antifederalist,  to  the  top  of  the  poll.  In 
the  extreme  western  counties  a  like  contest  took  place,  but 
after  several  ballotings  the  Federalists  returned  Theodore 
Sedgwick,  a  lawyer,  a  trusty  Federalist,  and  a  descendant  of 
the  Massachusetts  general  of  that  name.* 

In  Middlesex,  Gerry  was  chosen  over  Gorham.  But  not 
till  two  trials  had  been  made  and  he  had  put  out  an  address 
to  the  electors  declaring  that,  now  the  Constitution  had  been 
adopted,  he  opposed  it  no  longer,  and  that  he  believed  all  citi 
zens  to  be  in  duty  bound  to  support  it.f  In  Suffolk,  Fisher 
Ames,  a  young  man  of  thirty,  was  elected  over  Samuel  Adams. 
Adams  was  voted  for  by  the  Antifederalists,  and  warmly  de 
fended  by  many  Federal  friends.  One  writer  in  the  Chronicle 
expressed  the  hope  that  while  the  people  were  careful  to  in 
troduce  into  the  Federal  Legislature  the  American  Fabius, 
they  would  not  be  unmindful  of  the  American  Cato.  An 
other  reminded  his  readers  that  Adams  was  the  poor  man's 
friend.  A  third  ventured  to  declare  that  it  was  the  vote  of 
Adams  that  carried  the  ratification  of  the  Constitution  in 
Massachusetts.  But  the  Federalists  asserted  with  great  truth 
that  he  was  old,  that  he  had  passed  all  his  life  in  destroying, 
and  that  the  turn  of  his  mind  was  much  better  adapted  to 
pulling  down  than  to  building  up.  He  was  therefore  not  a 
safe  man  to  put  into  a  legislature  whose  chief  duty  was  to 

*  See  Vermont  Gazette,  January  19,  1789. 
|  He  was  afterwards  twitted  with  this  change : 

"  Gerry,  whose  alter'd  mind  in  one  short  year, 
Led  him  its  firm  supporter  to  appear." 

Aristocracy,  an  Epic  Poem,  book  ii,  p.  13. 


532  THE  FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

build  up.  A  few,  forgetting  his  great  services,  denounced 
him  as  old  and  as  "  an  amendment-monger,"  a  name  often 
applied  to  the  Antifederalists.* 

The  majority  of  the  first  House  of  Representatives  was  thus 
formed  of  new  men,  not  a  few  of  whom  had  been  busy  with 
their  books  and  their  sports  when  Paul  Revere  made  his 
famous  midnight  ride.  Yet  some  noted  names  appear  on  the 
roll.  Connecticut  sent  Jonathan  Trumbull  and  Roger  Sher 
man,  who,  without  education  and  without  friends,  had  raised 
himself  from  the  shoemaker's  bench  by  dint  of  hard  sense  and 
patient  toil.  From  South  Carolina  came  ^Edanus  Burke  at 
the  head  of  a  strong  Antifederal  delegation.  In  his  train  were 
Sumter,  renowned  for  many  gallant  enterprises  in  the  late  war, 
and  William  Smith,  a  young  man,  but  soon  to  become  distin 
guished  for  debate.  Madison  was  one  of  the  ten  from  Virginia. 

While  these  men  were  busy  electioneering,  great  prepara 
tions  were  being  made  to  receive  them  at  New  York.  The 
Congress  of  the  Confederation  had  occupied  rooms  in  the  City 
Hall,  which  stood  on  the  ground  now  covered  by  the  Treas 
ury  Building.  But  the  building  was  old  and  out  of  repair, 
and  the  rooms  were  thought  too  mean  and  shabby  to  be  occu 
pied  by  the  new  Congress.  The  city  was  appealed  to,  but 
could  do  nothing,  for  its  treasury  was  out  of  funds.  Congress 
could  do  nothing,  for  the  national  coffers  were  empty.  Some 
wealthy  merchants  therefore  took  up  the  matter,  and  soon  the 
magnificent  sum  of  thirty-two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars 
was  collected  by  subscription.  The  hall  was  immediately  given 
over  to  Major  L'Enf  ant,  who  made  some  pretensions  to  a  knowl 
edge  of  architecture  and  the  fine  arts,  and  had  gained  some 
note  as  the  designer  of  the  badges  of  the  Cincinnati.  An 
army  of  carpenters,  masons,  and  plasterers  was  turned  in,  the 
structure  completely  remodelled,  and  renamed  Federal  Hall.f 
So  extensive  were  the  changes  that  when  the  fourth  of  March 
was  come  Federal  Hall  was  still  in  the  hands  of  the  carpenters. 
It  mattered  little,  however,  for  on  the  morning  of  that  day 
but  eight  senators  and  thirteen  representatives  were  in  the  city. 

*  Wells's  Life  of  Samuel  Adams. 

f  Description  of  the  Federal  Edifice  at  New  York.  Illustrated  with  a  Plate 
representing  a  View  of  that  Building.  Columbian  Magazine,  August,  1789. 


1789.  THE   CONSTITUTION"  BECOMES  LAW.  533 

The  day  had  been  ushered  in  with  a  few  pleasing  and 
solemn  ceremonies.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  third,  as  the  sun 
went  down  behind  the  low  ridges  of  the  Jersey  coast,  the  guns 
at  the  Battery  fired  a  farewell  salute  to  the  old  Confederation. 
At  the  coffee-house  some  jolly  gentlemen  sat  late,  and  long 
after  midnight  continued  to  drink  bumpers  to  the  new  era. 
When  the  first  streaks  of  gray  appeared  on  the  morning  of 
the  fourth,  at  twelve  noon,  and  at  six  in  the  evening,  salutes 
were  again  fired,  and  the  bells  of  all  the  churches  in  the  city 
rang  out  a  welcome  to  that  Constitution  under  which  we  have 
in  a  hundred  years  become  the  freest,  the  richest,  the  most 
prosperous  of  nations.* 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  bell-ringing  and  the  firing  there 
would  have  been  little  to  indicate  that  a  great  change  of  gov 
ernment  had  taken  place.  Some  new  faces  indeed  were  seen 
at  the  coffee-house,  and  some  familiar  ones  were  missed,  for 
many  members  of  the  old  Congress  who  had  failed  to  secure 
seats  in  the  new  had  already  packed  their  portmanteaus  and 
hastened  home.  But  a  sense  of  duty  kept  a  few  in  their  seats, 
and  these  continued  to  hold  daily  sessions,  and  to  transact 
some  unimportant  business  in  the  name  of  the  United  States. 
Meanwhile  the  new  Government  from  which  so  much  was 
expected  could  not  go  into  operation.  The  day  on  which  it 
was  to  have  begun  slipped  by.  Yet  its  members  did  not 
come.  This  was  highly  diverting  to  the  Antifederalists,  and 
the  source  of  endless  annoyance  to  the  Federalists.  They 
contented  themselves,  however,  with  cursing  the  sloth  of 
their  friends  in  private  and  apologizing  for  them  in  pub 
lic.  The  roads,  it  was  said,  were  in  a  terrible  state.  The  dis 
tances  were  long.  The  elections  had  been  so  close  that  in 
many  places  a  choice  had  not  been  made  till  the  last  mo 
ment.  Some  had  pressing  business  to  arrange,  and  could  not 
leave  home  till  it  was  settled.  But  they  would  soon  come. 
A  week  passed,  and  a  few  stragglers  appeared.  Then  even 
the  Federalists  lost  all  patience.  A  meeting  was  held  of  such 
senators  and  representatives  as  were  in  town,  and  a  vigor 
ous  appeal  sent  out  to  the  absent  members  to  hurry.  Anoth 
er  week  was  impatiently  spent.  Half  a  dozen  new  men  came 

*  New  York  Journal,  March  5,  1789. 


534  THE   FEDEKAL  GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

in,  and  the  matter  began  to  look  serious.  The  old  Congress 
was  slowly  dying.  The  new  Congress  showed  no  signs  of 
life,  and  it  seemed  not  unlikely  that  the  country  would  in  a 
short  time  be  left  without  a  government  of  any  kind.  Every 
day  the  people  grew  more  and  more  excited.  Indeed,  in  the 
great  cities  business  almost  ceased  to  be  done.*  Alarmed  and 
angry,  the  senators  called  a  second  meeting  and  published  a 
second  appeal,  more  urgent  than  the  first.  But  no  heed  was 
given  to  it,  and  March  was  all  but  ended  when  the  thirtieth 
representative  crossed  the  Hudson. 

The  number  of  the  first  House  had  been  fixed  by  the  Con 
stitution  at  sixty-five.  But  Rhode  Island  and  North  Carolina 
had  not  joined  the  Union,  so  the  number  fell  to  fifty-nine. 
Thirty  made  a  quorum,  and  a  quorum  being  present  in  the 
city,  the  House,  on  the  morning  of  the  thirtieth  of  March, 
took  possession  of  its  rooms  in  Federal  Hall  and  organized. 

The  first  duty  was  to  choose  a  speaker.  ,  Virginia,  it  was 
well  known,  had  secured  the  presidency.  The  vice-presidency 
had  been  bestowed  on  Massachusetts.  New  York,  which 
ranked  but  fourth  among  the  States  in  wealth  and  population, 
had  been  most  richly  rewarded  with  the  seat  of  Congress.  It 
was  thought  no  more  than  just,  therefore,  that  the  speaker- 
ship  should  be  given  to  Pennsylvania,  and  Muhlenberg,  a  rich 
Philadelphia  merchant,  was  placed  in  the  chair. 

And  now  a  new  delay  arose.  Nothing  could  be  done  till 
the  Senate  had  a  quorum,  and  another  week  was  passed  in 
grumbling  and  chafing,  in  watching  every  stage-wagon,  and 
asking  the  name  of  every  traveller  that  came  into  the  city. 
At  last,  on  the  morning  of  the  sixth  of  April,  a  messenger 
knocked  at  the  door  of  the  House  and  informed  the  Speaker 
that  the  Senate  was  ready  to  count  the  electoral  vote.  The 
members  hastened  to  the  Senate-chamber,  the  ballots  were 
opened,  and  as  Langdon  read  them  off,  were  taken  down  by  a 
teller  appointed  by  the  House  and  by  a  teller  appointed  by  the 
Senate.  The  Houses  then  separated. 

When  the  representatives  were  once  more  in  their  seats 
the  Speaker  announced  the  result.  George  Washington  had 
received  sixty-nine,  John  Adams  thirty-four.  A  few  other 

*  New  York  Packet,  March  31,  1789. 


1789.  PUBLIC  ADVICE  TO   CONGRESS.  535 

men  less  renowned  for  public  services  received  votes.*  But 
they  were  merely  complimentary,  and  intended  to  cut  down 
the  number  for  Adams,  that  he  might  not  come  too  close  to 
his  illustrious  chief. f 

While  the  messengers  were  hastening  to  inform  Washing 
ton  and  Adams  of  their  election,  the  Houses  were  supplied 
by  the  people  with  advice.  The  ills,  it  was  said,  that  beset  the 
country  came  from  the  languishing  state  of  agriculture,  from 
the  struggling  condition  of  manufactures,  from  the  importation 
of  British  goods.  This  last  was  a  crying  evil  and  should  be 
put  down.  The  English,  ever  since  the  close  of  the  war,  had 
been  heaping  up  indignities  on  the  Americans.  Yet  their  con 
nection  was  as  fondly  sought  as  ever.  The  stores  and  shops 
were  full  of  the  tawdry  badges  of  this  infamous  servility  ;  and 
with  sorrow  should  it  be  remarked  that  the  paltry  fashions  of 
England,  so  eagerly  followed  by  all  ranks  in  America,  were 
disgraceful  specimens  of  pusillanimity,  and  unless  speedily 
checked,  would  sully  the  honor  of  a  free  people.  Slaves  might 
put  on  the  fantastic  gewgaws  of  their  masters.  But  how 
shameful  for  a  people  styling  itself  free  and  independent  to  be 
servilely  copying  the  fopperies  of  those  who  are  forever  in 
sulting  it ! 

The  first,  the  ~very  first  act,  therefore,  of  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment  should  be  to  restrain  commerce  with  Great  Britain,  un 
less  on  terms  of  reciprocity.  Till  this  was  done  tradesmen  and 
husbandmen  might  look  forward  to  the  halcyon  days  of  peace 
and  plenty  ;  merchants  might  please  themselves  with  the  pros 
pect  of  a  flourishing  commerce;  politicians  might  indulge  a 
thousand  agreeable  ideas  of  the  growing  riches  of  the  country ; 
but  depend  upon  it,  they  would  never  be  anything  but  dreams. 
Many  of  Great  Britain's  manufactures  were  similar  to  those  of 
the  States,  and  ought  not  to  be  imported.  If  the  country  was 
to  prosper,  it  must  spend  less  on  foreign  goods  than  its  own 
would  sell  for.  Suppose,  said  one  grumbler,  and  his  argu- 

*  Samuel  ITuntirigton,  of  Conn.,  2  ;  John  Jay,  of  N.  Y.,  9 ;  John  Hancock,  of 
Mass.,  4  ;  R.  II.  Harrison,  of  Md.,  6  ;  George  Clinton,  of  N.  Y.,  3  ;  John  Rut- 
ledge,  of  S.  C.,  6  ;  John  Milton,  of  Ga.,  2  ;  James  Armstrong,  of  Ga.,  1  ;  Edward 
Telfair,  of  Ga.,  1  ;  Benjamin  Lincoln,  of  Mass.,  1. 

f  See  a  letter  from  Gerry  to  John  Adams,  March  4,  1789.     Adams's  Works. 


536  THE   FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

ment  may  be  taken  as  a  sample  of  hundreds  of  others,  the 
case  of  a  Staten  Island  farmer.  He  raises  beef,  corn,  butter, 
and  cheese,  and  carries  them  to  New  York.  But  he  is  a  pru 
dent  man,  and  bringing  home  no  silks,  no  teas,  no  rum,  lays  by 
five  hundred  pounds  a  year.  He  dies,  and  his  son  succeeds 
to  his  land  and  fortune.  But  the  son  is  a  fashionable  young 
man,  and  must  have  wines  from  France  and  Spain.  The 
linen  made  of  his  own  flax  is  homespun.  Therefore  he  can 
not  endure  it,  but  must  supply  himself  from  Holland  and  Ire 
land.  He  cannot  sleep  in  a  bed  of  his  own  linen  and  stuff 
furniture.  He  must  have  chintz,  as  more  gonteel.  Nothing 
but  a  China  damask  is  fit  for  a  morning-gown  for  him  to  wear. 
When  he  goes  to  the  city  he  takes  in  a  thousand  pounds  of 
produce,  and  brings  home  fifteen  hundred  pounds  of  rum, 
spices,  sugars,  silks,  and  gauze.  In  a  little  while  he  falls  into 
debt,  is  arrested,  his  farm  sold,  and  his  body  lodged  in  the  jail. 

The  difference  between  men  and  States  is  no  more  than 
less  and  greater ;  and  it  is  pitiful  to  see  men  ploughing  the 
ocean  from  the  torrid  to  the  frigid  zone  rather  than  their  own 
fields ;  carrying  flaxseed  to  Ireland  and  owing  that  country 
for  linen,  when  they  have  under  their  feet  the  richest  soil  in 
the  world.  It  is  plainly  the  duty  of  Congress  to  spare  no 
pains  to  restrain  importation  and  to  encourage  home  manufac 
ture.* 

The  advice  wras  thought  sound,  and  had  already  been  acted 
on  by  the  people.  In  every  great  city,  from  Boston  to  Balti 
more,  societies  for  the  encouragement  of  manufactures  had 
sprung  up  since  the  war,  and  were  flourishing.  That  at  Bos 
ton  put  forth  an  address  urging  the  manufacturers  of  the 
great  seaports  to  join  with  it  in  checking  importation. f  The 
members  of  the  society  in  Delaware  took  a  solemn  pledge  to 
appear  on  the  first  day  of  January  in  each  year  clothed  in 
goods  of  American  make,  to  foster  the  growth  of  flax  and 

*  See  a  pamphlet  called  Commercial  Conduct  of  the  United  States  of  America 
considered,  and  the  True  Interest  thereof  attempted  to  be  shown.  By  a  Citi 
zen  of  New  York.  Also,  An  Address  to  the  Independent  Electors  of  the  Federal 
Government.  By  a  Republican. 

f  See  a  Circular  Letter  from  the  tradesmen  and  manufacturers  of  the  town 
of  Boston  to  their  brethren  in  the  several  seaports  in  the  Union.  Boston,  August 
20,  1788.  American  Museum,  October,  1788. 


1789.  SPINNING  BEES.  537 

wool,  and  to  discourage  the  purchase  of  cloth  abroad.*  The 
society  at  Philadelphia  had,  at  great  cost  and  labor,  secured 
the  models  of  a  cotton-carder  and  a  cotton-spinner,  built  a 
factory,  and  begun  the  manufacture  of  cotton  goods.f 

The  result  was  a  speedy  return  to  old  habits  of  simplicity 
and  frugality.  Young  women  wore  plainer  clothes,  and  made 
haste  to  surpass  their  mothers  in  skill  at  the  spinning-wheel.;}: 
Young  men  drank  American  porter  and  beer,  and  were  not 
ashamed  to  be  seen  in  homespun  stockings  and  home-made 
jeans.  Politicians  found  the  surest  way  to  win  the  hearts  of 
their  constituents  was  to  appear  dressed  in  American  broad- 
cloth.*  The  town  of  Hartford  could  think  of  no  gift  so  ap 
propriate  for  John  Adams,  on  his  way  to  be  inaugurated  Vice- 
President,  as  a  roll  of  cloth  from  its  own  looms.  ||  All  true 
patriots  heard  with  joy  that  on  the  auspicious  day  when  the 
American  Fabius  stood  forth  to  take  the  oath  of  office  he  was 
clad  from  head  to  foot  in  garments  whose  material  was  the 
product  of  American  soil.A 


*  See  the  constitution  of  the  society  as  given  in  the  American  Museum,  Feb 
ruary,  1789. 

f  Address  to  the  Friends  of  American  Manufactures.  By  An  American  Citizen 
(Tench  Coxe).  American  Museum,  October,  1788.  Federal  Gazette,  May  11,  1790. 

+  The  interest  which  the  young  women  of  the  time  began  to  take  in  the  spin 
ning-wheel  is  worthy  of  notice,  and  is  often  alluded  to  in  the  papers.  "  The  spin 
ning-wheel,  long  neglected,"  says  one  paper,  "  begins  to  be  held  in  general  repu 
tation  by  the  Fair,"  and  then  goes  on  to  give  an  account  of  some  recent  exploits 
of  the  Fair.  United  States  Chronicle,  June  26,  1788.  "  On  hearing  of  the  adop 
tion  of  the  new  Constitution,"  says  the  same  sheet  a  few  weeks  later,  "  fifty-five 
young  ladies  met  at  the  house  of  the  minister  and  spent  the  day  in  spinning." 
United  States  Chronicle,  July  31,  1788.  The  town  where  this  took  place  was 
Woodstock,  Rhode  Island.  An  account  of  a  similar  meeting  "  at  the  house  of  the 
Presbyterian  minister  at  Newbury  Port "  is  given  in  the  Pennsylvania  Packet  of 
April  26,  1787.  Says  another  paper:  "A  company  of  forty-three  ladies,  devoted 
to  the  encouragement  of  manufactures  in  the  State  of  Rhode  Island,  met,  on  April 
22d,  in  the  State-House  of  the  patriotic  and  federal  town  of  East  Greenwich,  and 
spent  the  day  in  spinning.  They  were  of  no  party  and  no  creed.  They  spun 
173'5  knotted  skeins  of  good  linen  yarn,  and  as  each  spun  her  own  flax  and  for 
her  own  use,  the  yarn  spun  from  five  to  ten  skeins  per  pound.  Ten  of  them  spun 
32  skeins,  one-half  knot;  twenty-nine  spun  115  skeins,  4'5  knots;  five  spun  25 
skeins,  10  knots.  Sundry  gentlemen  waited  on  them  with  wine,  cakes,  etc."  New 
York  Packet,  May  12,  1789.  #  American  Museum,  February,  1789. 

I  Letters  of  John  Adams  to  his  wife,  April  19,  1789. 

A  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  May  7  and  13,  1789. 


538  THE   FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

His  inauguration  fell  on  the  last  day  of  April.  Washing 
ton  quitted  Mount  Yernon  on  the  sixteenth  of  the  month,  in 
company  with  Colonel  Humphreys  and  Mr.  Thomson,  and 
came  by  the  most  direct  road  through  Baltimore  and  Phila 
delphia  to  iNew  York.  The  journey,  even  at  that  time  of 
year,  might  easily  have  been  made  in  five  days,  but  he  was 
much  delayed  by  the  hearty  receptions  given  him  along  the 
entire  route.  From  every  village  and  hamlet  through  which 
the  road  lay  the  people  poured  forth  to  welcome  him,  and  to 
testify,  by  shouts  and  blessings,  their  love  and  gratitude  for 
the  great  things  he  had  done.  He  was  feasted  at  Alexandria. 
He  was  entertained  at  Georgetown.  He  was  warmly  received 
at  Philadelphia.  The  people  of  that  city  had  selected  Gray's 
Ferry,  on  the  lower  Schuylkill,  as  the  place  to  meet  him,  and 
had  taxed  their  ingenuity  to  the  utmost  to  devise  decorations 
worthy  of  the  occasion.  The  bridge,  a  mean  and  rude  struct 
ure,  was  hidden  under  cedars  and  laurel,  flags  and  liberty-caps. 
Two  triumphal  arches  were  put  up,  and  signals  arranged  to 
give  warning  of  his  coming. 

At  last,  about  noon  on  the  twentieth,  the  flag  in  the  ferry- 
garden  was  dropped,  and  soon  after  the  President  was  seen 
riding  slowly  down  the  hill  and  under  the  first  arch,  where  a 
laurel  crown  was  let  fall  upon  his  head.  From  the  bridge 
he  went  on  in  company  with  Governor  Miiflin  and  the  troops 
to  Philadelphia,  where  he  lay  that  night.*  The  moment  he 
entered  the  city  limits  the  bells  of  all  the  churches  were  rung, 
and,  in  the  language  of  that  time,  a  feu  de  joie  was  fired. 
The  President  was  much  affected,  and,  says  an  eye-witness,  as 
he  moved  down  Market  street  to  the  city  tavern  every  face 
seemed  to  say,  Long,  long,  long  live  George  "Washington. f 
Early  the  next  morning  the  Philadelphia  Horse  rode  with 
him  to  Trenton,  where  a  yet  more  pleasing  reception  awaited 
him.  On  the  Assumpink  bridge,  over  which,  twelve  years 

*  Account  of  the  Preparations  at  Gray's  Ferry,  on  the  River  Schuylkill,  and  of 
the  Reception  of  General  Washington  there,  April  20,  1789,  on  his  way  to  the 
Seat  of  Federal  Government,  to  take  upon  him  the  High  Office  of  President  of  the 
United  States.  Embellished  with  an  east  view  of  the  ferry,  the  bridge,  the  deco 
ration,  etc.  Columbian  Magazine,  May,  1789. 

f  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  April  22,  1789.  Pennsylvania  Mercury,  April  21, 
1789.  Freeman's  Journal,  April  22,  1789.  New  York  Packet,  May  1,  1789. 


1V89.  WASHINGTON'S  INAUGURATION.  539 

before,  he  led  his  little  army  on  the  night  before  the  battle  of 
Princeton,  the  women  of  Trenton  had  put  up  a  triumphal 
arch.  Thirteen  columns  supported  it,  and  were  surmounted 
by  a  great  dome  adorned  with  a  sunflower,  and  the  inscription, 
"  To  thee  alone."  Beyond  the  bridge  was  gathered  a  bevy  of 
women  and  girls,  who,  as  the  President  passed  under  the 
dome,  came  forward  to  greet  him,  singing  and  strewing  the 
way  with  flowers.  Washington  was  greatly  touched,  and 
thanked  them  in  a  few  neatly  turned  sentences.* 

From  Trenton  the  Huntington  Horse  accompanied  him  to 
Rocky  Hill,  where  the  Somerset  Horse  met  him  and  escorted 
him  to  Brunswick.  Thence  the  Middlesex  Horse  took  him  to 
Woodbridge,  and  the  Essex  Horse  to  the  barge  at  Elizabeth- 
town  point. f  Once  on  board,  the  little  craft  was  rowed  by 
thirteen  pilots  through  the  Kill  von  Kull  and  out  into  the 
broad  bosom  of  the  most  beautiful  of  harbors.  Around  him 
on  every  side  crowded  an  innumerable  navy  of  trackscouts 
and  shallops,  barges  and  row-boats,  gay  with  flags  and  black 
with  shouting  men.  Before  him,  just  visible  in  the  distance, 
lay  the  low  hills  and  the  white  houses  of  the  great  city,  and 
as  the  barge  sped  swiftly  toward  them,  the  Spanish  warship 
Galveston  saluted  with  thirteen  guns.  The  ship  North  Caro 
lina  replied.  A  third  salute  was  fired  by  the  artillery  as 
Washington  climbed  the  stairs  at  Murray's  wharf  and  was 
welcomed  by  Clinton,  the  senators  and  representatives,  and 
escorted  through  dense  lines  of  cheering  citizens  to  the  house 
made  ready  for  his  use.  At  night  the  sky  was  red  with  bon 
fires,  and  the  streets  and  coffee-houses  full  of  revellers.;]; 

It  was  the  twenty-third  of  the  month.  But  as  a  few  finish- 
ing  touches  were  yet  to  be  given  to  Federal  Hall,  the  cere 
monies  of  inauguration  were  put  off  till  the  thirtieth.  On 
the  morning  of  that  day  the  people  went  in  crowds  to  the 
churches  to  offer  up  prayers  for  the  welfare  of  the  new  Gov- 

*  New  York  Packet,  May  1,  1789.  See,  also,  the  Account  of  the  Manner  of 
receiving,  at  Trenton,  his  Excellency  George  Washington,  President  of  the  United 
States,  on  his  Route  to  the  Seat  of  Federal  Government.  Communicated  in  a 
Letter  to  the  Editor.  Embellished  with  a  view  of  Trenton  and  the  triumphal 
arch.  Columbian  Magazine,  May,  1789.  Freeman's  Journal,  April  29,  1789. 

f  New  York  Journal,  April,  1789.  Gazette  of  the  United  States,  April  29, 
1789.  \  Ibid.,  April  30,  1789.  New  York  Packet,  May  1,  1789. 


540  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

eminent  and  the  safety  of  the  President.  Precisely  at  noon 
the  procession,  which  had  been  forming  almost  since  sunrise, 
moved  from  Washington's  house  on  Cherry  street,  through 
Queen  street,*  Great  Dockf  and  Broad  streets,  to  Federal 
Hall.  As  the  head  of  the  line  reached  tfie  building  the  troops 
divided,  and  Washington  was  led  through  the  midst  of  them 
to  the  Senate-chamber,  where  both  Houses  were  formally  in 
troduced  to  him.  When  the  members  were  again  seated  and 
the  noise  had  subsided,  Adams,  who  had  already  been  inau 
gurated,  informed  the  President  that  the  time  had  come  for 
the  administration  of  the  oath  of  office.  Washington  rose, 
and  followed  by  the  members  of  the  two  Houses,  went  out 
on  the  balcony  of  Federal  Hall,  from  which  he  could  be  seen 
far  up  and  far  down  Wall  street,  and  by  the  multitude  that 
filled  Broad  street.  The  Chancellor  of  New  York  tendered 
the  oath,  and  when  the  ceremony  was  over,  turning  toward 
the  people,  cried  out,  "  Long  live  George  Washington,  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States ! "  The  'crowd  took  up  the  cry, 
and  amid  the  joyous  shouts  of  the  citizens  and  the  roar  of  the 
cannon  on  the  Battery,  Washington  went  back  to  the  Senate- 
chamber  and  delivered  his  inaugural.  That  night  there  were 
bonfires  in  all  the  streets,  and  moving  transparencies  in  the 
windows  of  the  Spanish  Minister's  house. 

It  now  became  proper,  in  accordance  with  the  ancient  usage 
of  the  British  Parliament,  to  frame  an  answer  to  the  President's 
speech.  But  here  a  new  difficulty  arose.  By  what  title  should 
he  be  addressed  ?  A  decent  respect,  it  was  said,  for  the  opin 
ions  and  usages  of  civilized  nations  required  that  some  title  of 
respectability  should  be  given  to  the  Chief  Magistrate.  But 
what  ?  Should  he  be  mentioned  in  State  papers,  and  compli 
mented  in  resolutions,  under  the  title  of  His  Highness,  or  His 
Excellency  ?  "Was  it  consistent  with  the  simplicity  of  a  re 
public  to  style  him  High  Mightiness  ?  Or  should  he  content 
himself  with  the  more  humble  appellation  of  the  President  ? 
The  question  was  as  delicate  as  it  was  puzzling,  and  had  been 
under  debate  in  both  Houses  since  the  day  he  landed  at  Mur 
ray's  wharf.  Committees  had  been  appointed,  conferences 

*  Now  Pearl  street  east  of  Hanover  square. 

f  Now  Pearl  street  from  Hanover  square  to  Whitehall  street. 


1789.  DEBATE   ON  TITLES.  541 

had  been  held,  reports  had  been  made,  and  a  complete  disagree 
ment  had  resulted.  The  representatives  adopted  the  report 
of  their  committee,  that  it  would  be  unwise  to  use  any  other 
title  than  that  given  in  the  Constitution,  and  on  the  eighth  of 
May  addressed  the  executive  as  the  President.  But  the  sena 
tors  were  of  a  different  mind.  They  were  strongly  in  favor 
of  a  high-sounding  title,  and  at  the  very  moment  the  House 
was  thanking  the  President  for  his  gracious  words  in  a  neigh 
boring  chamber,  rejected  the  report,  declared  the  words  "  His 
Excellency  "  were  not  dignified  enough,  and  appointed  three  of 
their  members  to  confer  with  a  House  committee  and  devise 
better.  The  resolution  was  sent  down  to  the  House  the  fol 
lowing  day,  which  was  Saturday,  and  on  Monday  came  up  for 
debate. 

A  dozen  members  spoke.  But  the  speech  that  came  near 
est  the  sentiments  of  the  people,  and  was  most  applauded  out 
of  doors,  was  made  by  Tucker,  of  South  Carolina.  He  was, 
he  said,  opposed  to  such  a  committee.  The  matter  was  one 
the  House  had  no  right  to  take  into  consideration.  Then, 
turning  to  the  Speaker,  he  exclaimed :  "  What,  sir,  is  the  inten 
tion  of  this  business  ?  Will  it  not  alarm  our  fellow-citizens  ? 
Will  it  not  give  them  just  cause  for  alarm  ?  Will  they  not 
say  that  they  have  been  deceived  by  the  convention  that  framed 
the  Constitution  ?  One  of  its  warmest  advocates,  nay,  one  of 
its  framers,  has  recommended  it  by  calling  it  a  pure  democracy. 
Does  giving  titles'  look  like  a  pure  democracy  ?  Surely  not. 
Some  one  has  said  that  to  give  dignity  to  our  Government  we 
must  give  a  lofty  title  to  our  Chief  Magistrate.  Does  the  dig 
nity  of  a  nation  then  consist  in  the  distance  between  the  first 
magistrate  and  the  citizens  ?  Is  it  true  that  it  consists  in  the 
exaltation  of  one  man  and  the  humiliation  of  all  the  rest  ? 
If  so,  then  to  make  our  dignity  complete  we  must  give  first 
a  high  title,  then  an  embroidered  robe,  then  a  princely  equi 
page,  and  finally  a  crown  and  hereditary  succession.  This  spirit 
of  imitation,  sir,  this  spirit  of  mimicry  and  apery,  wrill  be  the 
ruin  of  our  country.  Instead  of  giving  us  dignity  in  the  eyes 
of  foreigners,  it  will  expose  us  to  be  laughed  at  as  apes.  Let 
us  set  up  tranquillity  and  good  order  at  home,  then  wealth, 
strength,  and  national  dignity  will  be  the  infallible  result." 


54:2          THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.       CHAP.  vi. 

Jackson,  one  of  the  three  from  Georgia,  wondered  what 
title  the  Senate  knew  of  that  could  add  lustre  to  the  man  who 
filled  the  presidential  chair.  For  his  part  he  could  think  of 
none.  Would  it  add  to  the  fame  of  Washington  to  call  him 
after  the  petty  and  insignificant  princes  of  Europe  ?  Would 
styling  him  Your  Serene  Highness,  or  Your  Grace,  or  Your 
Mightiness,  add  one  tittle  to  the  solid  properties  he  possessed  ? 
Certainly  not.  To  talk  of  such  a  thing  was  to  trifie  with  the 
dignity  of  the  Government. 

Madison  spoke  in  the  same  strain.  He  saw  no  danger  in  a 
title.  He  did  not  believe  that  a  President,  clothed  with  all 
the  powers  of  the  Constitution  and  loaded  down  with  all  the 
titles  of  Europe  and  Asia,  would  be  a  dangerous  person  to 
American  liberty.  He  objected  to  the  principle.  If,  said  he, 
we  give  titles,  we  must  either  borrow  or  invent  them.  If  we 
invent  and  deck  out  an  airy  being  of  our  creation,  it  is  a  great 
chance  but  its  fantastic  properties  render  the  empty  phantom 
ridiculous  and  absurd.  If  we  borrow,  our  servile  imitation 
will  be  odious.  We  must  copy  from  the  pompous  monarchs 
of  the  East,  or  we  must  follow  the  inferior  monarchs  of  Eu 
rope.  In  either  case  the  splendid  tinsel  and  the  gorgeous  robe 
will  disgrace  the  manly  shoulders  of  our  chief. 

When  a  few  more  members  had  been  heard,  Lee,  to  get 
rid  of  the  matter,  moved  the  previous  question.  It  was 
agreed,  however,  to  appoint  a  committee  of  five.  A  few  days 
later  the  problem  that  had  puzzled  Jackson  was  solved.  The 
title  the  Senate  had  in  view  was  :  His  Highness,  the  President 
of  the  United  States  of  America,  and  Protector  of  their  Lib 
erties.  Nothing  ever  came  of  the  conference,  and  the  matter 
was  suffered  to  drop.* 

But  the  praise  the  House  got  for  its  display  of  patriotism  on 
this  occasion  was,  a  few  weeks  later,  more  than  outweighed  by 
the  abuse  it  received  for  passing  the  Salaries  Bill.  Some  of 
the  members,  who  confessed  that  they  were  well-nigh  reduced 
to  borrowing  from  their  friends,  brought  it  up  in  the  midst  of 


*  Some  expressions  of  public  opinion  are  given  in  New  York  Daily  Advertiser, 
August  1,  1789.  Gazette  of  the  United  States,  June  20,  July  8,  and  September  2, 
1789.  New  York  Journal,  August  27,  1789.  See,  also,  the  reports  of  the  Con 
gressional  Debates  in  New  York  Journal,  May  14,  1789. 


1789.  PAY   OF  CONGRESSMEN.  513 

a  debate  on  the  western  lands.  There  was  little  discussion 
over  what  the  pay  of  the  President  should  be.  He  had,  in 
deed,  plainly  said  in  his  inaugural  that  he  would  take  none. 
But,  as  a  debater  justly  remarked,  the  Constitution  declared 
that  he  should  have  a  salary,  and  it  was  the  duty  of  the  House 
to  provide  one.  Some  were  for  making  it  seventy  thousand 
dollars  a  year.  Others  thought  fifteen  or  twenty  thousand 
quite  enough.  Twenty-five  thousand  was  at  length  agreed  on, 
and  at  that  sum  it  remained  till  Grant  had  been  some  years  in 
the  White  House. 

The  sum  the  Vice-President  should  receive  provoked  a 
long  dispute.  The  duties  and  the  position  of  that  officer  were 
but  ill-defined.  '  The  Constitution,  it  was  said,  was  silent  as  to 
both.  It  did  indeed  declare  that  he  should  sit  in  the  chair  of 
the  Senate.  But  no  penalty  could  fall  on  him  if  he  'shirked 
this  duty  and  followed  pursuits  more  to  his  liking  than  keeping 
order,  putting  questions,  and  announcing  the  results  of  ballot- 
ings.  He  might,  as  a  member  pointed  out,  follow  any  business 
he  chose,  stay  at  home,  raise  corn  or  tobacco,  draw  his  pay, 
and  never  show  his  face  in  the  Senate-chamber.  Under  such 
circumstances  it  was  doubtful  whether  he  should  be  paid  by 
the  year  or  by  the  day  for  the  time  he  actually  sat  in  the 
chair.  The  arguments,  however,  in  behalf  of  an  annual  sti 
pend  prevailed,  and  five  thousand  dollars  was  agreed  to.  It 
was  then  declared  that  the  members  of  the  Senate  and  House 
should  receive  each  six  dollars  a  day,  and  the  Speaker  twelve, 
for  every  day  of  the  session. 

Six  dollars  a  day  to  the  members  and  twelve  to  the  Speak 
er  !  exclaimed  the  news-writers.  The  wages  are  twice  what 
they  should  be.  Where  in  Europe  or  America  can  a  prece 
dent  for  such  pay  to  legislators  be  found  ?  The  British  Com 
mons  get  six  shillings  a  day.  The  colonial  assemblymen,  in 
times  before  the  war,  had  but  eight  or  ten.  The  wages  of  the 
late  Congress  ought  not  to  be  cited,  for  it  was  properly  not  a 
Congress,  but  a  council  of  the  States.  But  perhaps  no  prece 
dent  is  wanted.  To  give  the  Speaker  such  extravagant  pay  is 
yet  more  absurd.  He  has  the  very  easiest  berth  in  the  House. 
He  is  never  on  a  committee.  He  never  draws  up  a  bill.  He 
never  frames  a  message.  Twelve  dollars  a  day  is  seventeen 


544  THE   FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

hundred  and  fifty-two  pounds  a  year,  and  seventeen  hundred 
and  fifty-two  pounds  a  year  may  be  thought  by  the  gentle 
men  who  get  it  as  a  very  pretty  annuity.*  But  the  mechan 
ics  and  laborers  who  are  to  pay  it  will  see  it  in  a  different 
light.  Such  wages  will  enable  congressmen  to  live  away  from 
home,  to  support  a  theatre,  to  drink  fine  wines,  and  will  keep 
other  States  from  coming  into  the  Union.  The  expenses  of 
the  Government  at  that  rate  will  be  near  nine  hundred  thou 
sand  pounds  a  year.f 

To  this  one  of  the  members  of  the  House  replied  in  a  letter 
to  a  friend,  which  soon  found  its  way  into  print.  Six  dollars 
a  day  was,  he  remarked,  no  more  than  for  years  was  given  by 
Pennsylvania  to  her  delegates.  Nay,  it  was  less  than  was  paid 
under  the  old  Confederacy  by  all  the  other  States  except  New 
Jersey.  Massachusetts  gave  a  guinea  and  board.  Virginia 
and  South  Carolina  a  half -joe.  This,  too,  was  for  every  day  in 
the  three  hundred  and  sixty -five.  Now  congressmen  were 
paid  for  only  four  or  five  months  out  of  the  twelve.:):  Taking 
seventy  days  as  the  average,  and  allowing,  said  another  defender 
of  the  bill,  one  hundred  and  forty  dollars  for  mileage,  the  sum 
put  into  the  wallet  of  each  member  would  be  two  hundred 
and  ten  pounds.*  Out  of  this,  if  a  man  were  frugal  and  eco 
nomical,  kept  away  from  the  theatre,  and  never  tasted  fine 
wines,  he  might  perchance  save  one  hundred  and  ten  pounds. 
And  this  was  to  compensate  him,  if  a  professional  man,  for  the 
loss  of  patients  or  clients ;  or,  if  a  merchant,  for  a  great  chasm 
in  his  business.  As  for  the  Speaker,  he  was  expected  to  keep 
open  table.] 

To  defray  what  the  Antifederalists  called  this  shameful  cost 
of  Government,  Congress  had  already  made  provisions.  A  few 

*  It  should  seem,  at  first  sight,  as  if  this  computation  were  wrong.     But  it 
must  be  remembered  that  the  money  of  1789  was  not  the  money  of  1883  ;  that 
the  place  was  New  York,  and  at  New  York  eight  local  shillings  made  a  dollar. 

f  See  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  July  15,  1789.  Letter  from  a  gentleman  in  Xew 
Jersey  to  his  friend  in  New  York.  New  York  Packet,  August  1,  178^. 

\  Letter  from  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  Now  York  Packet, 
August  26,  1789. 

*  Pennsylvania  money.     Seven  shillings  and  a  half  to  the  dollar. 

||  New  York  Packet,  August  25,  1789.  See,  also,  Boston  Gazette,  September 
7,  1789. 


1789.  A  REVENUE  SYSTEM  DEBATED.  545 

days  after  the  session  began,  when  the  Speaker  had  been  chosen, 
when  the  door-keepers  had  been  elected,  when  the  form  of  oath 
for  new  members  had  been  framed,  the  House  went  into  a  com 
mittee  of  the  whole  on  the  state  of  the  Union.  Page  was  put 
in  the  chair,  and  when  the  floor  was  declared  open,  Madison 
rose  and  addressed  them.  He  recalled  to  his  hearers  the  imbe 
cility  of  the  late  Congress,  congratulated  them  on  the  estab 
lishment  of  a  vigorous  Government,  and  reminded  them  that 
one  of  the  first  duties  before  them  was  to  pay  the  just  debts 
of  the  country.  This  required  a  full  Treasury.  A  full  Treasury 
could  only  be  kept  up  by  a  steady  revenue,  and  a  revenue  to  be 
steady  must  bear  lightly  on  the  people.  Happily  for  the  coun 
try,  such  a  system  of  taxation  was  possible.  He  then  read  the 
impost  system  of  1783,  added  a  clause  or  two  on  tonnage,  and 
urged  the  committee  to  adopt  it,  or  at  least  make  it  the  basis 
of  a  temporary  impost.  Eevenue  must  be  had.  Spring  was 
at  hand,  and  spring  was  the  season  of  importation.  In  a  few 
weeks  the  great  seaports  would  be  full  of  ships  laden  with  rum 
from  Jamaica  and  wine  from  Madeira,  with  sugar  and  spice 
from  the  Indies,  and  the  fair  products  of  French  and  English 
looms.  If,  therefore,  the  committee  loitered  in  their  work,  the 
Treasury  would  lose  a  great  sum  which  could  by  a  light  impost 
be  brought  into  its  strong  box. 

The  speech  was  well  received,  and  with  much  show  of  alac 
rity  the  matter  was  instantly  taken  up.  It  was  provided  in  the 
bill  that  the  mass  of  goods,  wares,  and  merchandise  coming  in 
from  foreign  parts  should  be  subject  to  a  tax  of  five  per  cent 
on  their  value.  But  a  long  list  of  articles  was  given  on  which 
special  duties  were  to  be  laid.  At  the  head  of  the  list  stood 
Jamaica  rum,  which  on  motion  was  changed  to  distilled  spirits 
of  Jamaica  proof.  Two  duties  were  suggested,  one  of  fifteen 
cents  and  one  of  twelve  cents  the  gallon,  which  speedily  divided 
the  committee.  Some  thought  such  rates  too  high.  Some  de 
clared  they  were  much  too  low.  And  before  the  discussion 
had  gone  far  it  turned  into  a  debate  on  the  good  and  ill  effects 
of  high  duties  and  low  duties.  One'  low -tariff  member  re 
marked  that  the  first  thing  to  be  considered  in  laying  a  tax 
was  the  likelihood  of  gathering  it,  and  that  as  taxes  increased 
this  likelihood  decreased.  "  I  trust,"  said  he,  "  it  does  not  need 

VOL.  i. — 36 


54:6          THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.      CHAP.  vi. 

illustration  to  convince  every  member  of  the  committee  that  a 
high  duty  is  a  very  strong  temptation  to  smuggling.  Just  in 
the  proportion  which  a  tax  bears  to  the  value  of  an  article  is 
the  risk  men  will  run  in  their  attempts  to  bring  in  that  article 
in  an  illegal  way.  This  impairs  the  revenue,  and  in  time  so 
much  comes  in  through  the  hands  of  smugglers  that  no  revenue 
is  yielded  at  all."  Boudinot  said  "  he  for  one  would  be  glad  to 
see  Jamaica  rum  doing  just  that  very  thing.  There  were  three 
good  results  that  would  come  of  a  high  rum  tariff.  The  Treas 
ury  wanted  money,  and  surely  there  was  no  article  on  the  list 
of  taxable  goods  so  likely  to  furnish  a  revenue  as  nun.  The 
importation  would  be  discouraged,  and  that  was  beneficial  to 
the  morals  of  the  people.  The  West  Indian  distillers  would 
have  no  inducement  to  turn  their  molasses  into  rum,  and  as 
they  had  no  markets  for  molasses  save  those  of  the  United 
States,  the  home  stills  would  be  set  actively  to  work." 

His  remarks  on  the  moral  effects  of  the  tax  were  violently 
attacked  by  two  members  from  the  eastward.  Fisher  Ames 
quite  forgot  himself,  and  reminded  the  committee,  with  great 
vehemence  of  gesture  and  speech,  that  they  were  not  in  church 
or  at  school,  to  sit  listening  to  harangues  of  speculative  piety. 
"  We  are,"  exclaimed  he,  "  to  talk  of  the  political  interests  com 
mitted  to  our  care.  When  we  take  up  the  subject  of  morality, 
then  let  our  system  look  toward  morality,  and  not  confound 
itself  with  revenue  and  the  protection  of  manufactures.  If 
any  man  supposes  that  a  mere  law  can  turn  the  taste  of  a  peo 
ple  from  ardent  spirits  to  malt  liquors,  he  has  a  most  romantic 
notion  of  legislative  power." 

Lawrence,  one  of  the  members  from  New  York,  took  up 
the  attack.  He  was  for  low  tariff.  If,  said  he,  the  committee 
is  to  reason  and  act  as  moralists,  the  arguments  of  the  member 
from  New  Jersey  are  sound.  For  it  must  be  the  wish  of  every 
man  of  sense  to  discourage  the  use  of  articles  so  ruinous  to 
health  and  morals  as  rum.  But  we  are  to  act  as  politicians, 
not  as  moralists.  Rum,  not  morality,  is  to  be  taxed.  Money, 
not  sobriety,  is  the  object  of  the  tax ;  and  if  we  can  from  the 
vices  of  men  draw  some  of  that  revenue  which  one  way  or 
another  the  people  must  contribute,  we  are  right  in  doing  so. 
But  suppose  we  yield  to  the  reasoning  of  my  opponent  and 


1789.        DEBATE   ON   THE  TAXATION  OF  MOLASSES.         547 

lay  a  high  duty,  and  check  the  importation  of  rain.  "What 
will  happen  ?  We  shall  defeat  our  purpose.  The  country  will 
be  just  as  immoral,  and  much  poorer  than  at  present.  Not  a 
hogshead  of  the  liquor  will  be  seen  on  our  wharfs,  not  a  shil 
ling  of  revenue  will  be  collected  from  it  by  our  custom-house 
officers.  Yet  at  all  the  inns  and  taverns  in  the  land  rum  will 
be  as  plentiful  and  as  cheap  as  ever.  Does  any  man  suppose 
for  a  moment  that  the  thousands  of  artisans,  and  the  mechanics, 
the  tradesmen,  and  the  fishermen,  to  whom  liquor  is  as  much  a 
necessity  of  life  as  meat  and  bread,  will  upon  a  sudden  cease  to 
drink  it  because  it  is  taxed  with  a  great  tax  ?  Will  they  not 
rather  set  on  foot  ten  thousand  schemes  to  evade  the  duty  ?  and 
is  there  any  ingenuity  so  marvellous  as  the  ingenuity  of  men 
who  seek  to  circumvent  an  unwise  law  ?  Lay  such  a  tax,  and 
in  a  few  months  every  creek,  every  secluded  bay,  every  swamp 
along  the  whole  coast  from  Maine  to  Georgia,  will  be  a  nest  of 
smugglers.  There,  in  the  dark  of  each  moon  and  in  the  black 
ness  of  each  stormy  night,  hogsheads  of  the  forbidden  liquor 
will  be  run  ashore  and  buried  in  the  marsh,  or  hidden  in  the 
cellar  of  some  fisherman's  hut,  to  be  reshipped  to  the  great  sea 
ports  of  the  country.  Then  will  spring  up  a  mode  of  tax 
gathering  odious  to  all.  On  the  land  an  army  of  custom-house 
officers,  tide-waiters,  and  gangers.  On  the  sea  a  navy  of  ships, 
hailing  every  schooner,  boarding  every  packet,  giving  chase  to 
every  shallop  that  comes  in  sight.  And  when  the  money  col 
lected  with  so  much  pains  has  been  counted,  the  cost  of  ships 
and  officers  paid,  and  the  books  balanced,  it  will  indeed  be  as 
tonishing  if  a  single  shilling  remains  over  in  the  Treasury. 

The  justness  of  this  reasoning  was  lost  on  the  committee, 
and  spirits  of  Jamaica  proof  were  taxed  at  fifteen  cents  a 
gallon. 

Molasses  stood  next  on  the  list.  What  should  be  done^ 
with  it  was  hard  to  say.  Whole  sections  of  country  were  men 
tioned  where  it  was  shown  to  be  a  most  common  article  of  diet. 
Every  gallon  of  it  came  from  abroad,  and  it  was  at  the  same 
time  the  substance  from  which  rum  was  distilled.  If,  therefore, 
too  high  a  duty  was  imposed,  a  cry  would  go  up  which  it  would 
bs  impossible  not  to  hear.  If  too  low  a  duty  were  laid,  thou 
sands  of  hogsheads  would  come  into  the  country,  be  turned  into 


54:8         THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.      CHAP.  vi. 

rum,  and  the  revenue  expected  from  that  source  be  seriously 
impaired.  Eight  cents  per  gallon,  it  was  thought,  would  not 
be  a  burden  on  the  consumers  of  molasses  in  the  crude  state,  yet 
would  be  sufficient  to  discourage  its  importation  by  distillers. 
A  duty  of  eight  cents  was  therefore  proposed.  Immediately 
every  member  from  Massachusetts  rose  and  protested.  It  was 
too  much.  The  people  would  never  bear  it.  Rum,  which  was 
not  worth  more  than  forty-five  cents  a  gallon,  was  taxed  at 
fifteen  cents,  or  one  third  its  value.  Then  why  should  molasses, 
which  would  scarcely  fetch  fifteen  cents  a  gallon,  be  taxed  at 
eight  ?  This,  too,  fell  on  particular  States  and  particular  classes. 
Everybody  knew  that  every  quart  of  molasses  which  the  coun 
trymen  spread  on  their  bread  or  put  in  their  tea  came  from 
the  French  West  Indies  in  exchange  for  codfish  and  herrings. 
For  nine  months  of  every  year  a  fleet  of  New  England  fisher 
men  braved  the  storms  and  fogs  of  the  fishing-banks,  trolling 
and  drawing  the  seine.  Their  smacks  numbered  four  hundred 
and  eighty.  The  burden  exceeded  twenty-seven  thousand  tons. 
The  catch  of  a  single  year  often  went  over  four  hundred  thou 
sand  quintals.  Yet  these  honest  fishermen  had  but  one  market 
for  their  products,  and  in  that  market  could  purchase  but  two 
articles,  rum  and  molasses.  The  French  would  suffer  nothing 
else  to  go  out  of  the  ports  in  exchange  for  the  fish. 

The  importation  was  therefore  very  great.  The  ships  of 
Massachusetts  alone  brought  into  her  ports  each  twelvemonth 
forty  thousand  hogsheads  of  molasses.  Part  was  consumed 
raw;  part  was  made  into  rum.  The  capital  engaged  in  the 
business  of  distilling  summed  up  to  half  a  million  of  dollars. 
Yet  it  was  now  proposed  to  destroy  these  two  great  industries, 
which  contributed  so  much  to  the  prosperity  and  welfare  of 
the  nation.  Rum  was  to  be  taxed  till  it  ceased  to  be  imported, 
and  molasses  was  to  be  loaded  down  with  such  a  duty  as  would 
make  it  too  costly  to  eat  and  too  expensive  to  distil.  Then, 
when  it  was  too  late  to  mend  them,  the  evils  of  the  odious  tax 
would  come  out  fast.  Ram  and  molassesj  no  longer  salable  at 
home,  would  cease  to  be  purchased  abroad.  Fish,  having  no 
longer  a  market  in  foreign  parts,  would  cease  to  be  caught,  the 
smacks  would  rot  in  the  harbors,  and  the  fishermen  turn  plough 
men  and  mechanics.  What,  then,  would  become  of  the  coun- 


1789.  REPORT   OF  A  REVENUE   SYSTEM.  549 

try  ?  Were  not  the  fishing-banks  the  school  of  seamen  ?  And 
when  these  were  deserted,  whence  would  come  sailors  to  man 
the  ships  in  time  of  war,  and  to  navigate  the  merchantmen  in 
time  of  peace  ?  It  was  idle  to  talk  of  such  a  duty.  The  poor 
of  JSTew  England  would  never  endure  a  tax  on  their  favorite 
beverage  of  spruce,  molasses,  and  water.  To  cite  the  example 
of  England  was  thought  to  be  unpatriotic.  Yet  it  would  be 
well  to  remember  what  had  been  the  experience  of  that  great 
nation  in  this  same  matter.  She,  too,  had  in  colonial  days 
laid  her  hand  upon  molasses  and  taxed  it  threepence  the  gal- 
Jon.  But  such  heart-burnings  and  contentions  sprang  up  that 
she  was  glad  to  cut  down  the  duty  to  a  penny. 

With  this  picture  of  distress  before  them,  the  committee 
readily  consented  to  lower  the  duty  to  six  cents.  The  work  of 
finishing  the  list  then  went  on.  Some  articles  were  thrown 
out ;  some  were  taxed  without  discussion.  But  a  few  gave 
rise  to  sharp  debates.  The  greater  part  of  two  days  w«ie"  spent 
in  wrangling  over  salt.  Cordage  and  hemp  consumed  as  much 
more.  When  steel  was  reached,  a  proposition  was  made  to 
admit  it  free.  It  was  declared  to  be  of  great  use  in  the  manu 
facture  of  agricultural  tools.  And  as  enough  for  that  purpose 
could  never  be  produced  in  the  Union,  there  seemed  to  be 
some  reason  for  making  it  an  article  of  bounty  rather  than  an 
article  of  tax.  Clymer,  who  came  from  Philadelphia,  resented 
this.  There  was,  he  said,  in  Philadelphia  a  single  furnace 
which  had,  with  a  little  aid  from  the  State,  manufactured  three 
hundred  tons  of  steel  in  two  years.  It  was  even  then  making 
at  the  rate  of  two  hundred  and  thirty  tons  a  year,  and  would, 
if  protected  and  encouraged,  produce  enough  for  the  country. 

When  the  whole  list  had  been  gone  over,  the  committee 
rose  and  reported.  The  House  considered  the  report,  and 
ordered  a  bill  providing  for  duties  on  certain  goods,  wares,  and 
merchandises  to  be  brought  in.  Three  weeks  later  it  passed 
the  third  reading  and  became  a  law.  The  debates  on  the  bill 
before  the  House  were  little  more  than  a  repetition  of  what 
had  already  been  said  in  the  committee.  Member  after  mem 
ber  from  the  southern  States  rose  and  protested  against  the 
duties.  The  scale  was  too  high.  The  late  Congress,  such  was 
the  substance  of  their  reasoning,  had  drawn  up  for  impost  a 


550  THE  FEDEKAL   GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

list  of  eight  articles.     It  was  fair  to  suppose  that  the  matter 
had  been  carefully  studied,  and  that  the  estimated  annual  reve 
nue  of  nine  hundred  and  fifteen  thousand  six  hundred  and 
fifty-six  dollars  which  the  eight  selected  articles  were  expected 
to  yield  was  a  safe  one.     An  examination  of  the  lists  would 
show  that  these  same  goods  were  now  taxed  at  a  rate  four  or 
even  five  times  as  great  as  that  proposed  in  1783.    They  should 
therefore  produce  at  least  three  million  six  hundred  thousand 
dollars  yearly.     But  the  new  list  was  four  times  as  long  as  the 
old.     It  was  safe  to  infer,  therefore,  that  between  thirteen  and 
fourteen  millions  of  dollars  would   come  into  the  Treasury. 
This  was  out  of  all  reason.     The  public  service  did  not  require 
it ;  and  if  it  did,  there  was  not  specie  enough  in  the  country  to 
pay  it.     It  was  unjust  to  lay  such  a  burden  on  imported  goods 
when  equally  sure  and  productive  sources  of  revenue  were  at 
hand.     There  was  tonnage,  there  was  the  post-office,  and  many 
other  contrivances  which  the  ingenuity  of  Government  could 
devise.     To  order  that  because  a  certain  thing  could  be  made 
cheaply  in  one  part  of  this  country,  foreign  goods  of  the  same 
kind  should  be  heavily  taxed  to  keep  them  out,  was  partial 
and  unjust.     It  was  true  that  nails  and  paper,  spinning-irons 
and  shoes,  could  be  bought  at  Boston  and  Philadelphia  for  a 
less  sum  than  they  could   be  imported.     But  could  they  be 
carried  and  sold  at  Charleston  or  Savannah  for  that  price  ? 
Surely  not.     Even  if  they  could,  the  makers  had  no  business 
connections  in  the  South  such  as  foreigners  had.     The  moment 
a  lot  of  brooms  or  a  cargo  of  linens  came  into  Charleston,  they 
were  carried  by  agents   all  over  the  State  and   disposed   of 
without  inconvenience  to  the  buyer.     But  suppose  a  cargo  of 
shoe-nails  from  Massachusetts  came  into  the   Ashley.     How 
could  the  people  purchase  it?      Were  the  shoemakers  from 
every  remote  village  in  the  State  to  come  down  to  the  dock 
and  supply  themselves  ?     Did  gentlemen  fancy  it  was  merely 
necessary  to  fill  a  ship  with  merchandise  and  send  it  to  the 
dock  at  Charleston,  to  have  the  planters  come  down  and  take 
them  away  ?      The  planters  could  supply  themselves  at  less 
cost  and  less  pains  under  the  present  arrangement.     Now  they 
could  purchase  on  long  credit,  and  pay  when  the  crops  were 
gathered.     The  market  for  their  rice,  their  indigo,  their  pitch, 


1789.  DEBATE   ON  TONNAGE.  551 

their  tobacco,  was  in  Europe,  not  in  America.  When,  however, 
duty  was  laid,  and  foreign  goods  ceased  to  conie  in,  all  would 
be  changed.  The  planters  would  then  be  forced  to  send  their 
crops  abroad,  sell  for  what  they  could  get,  and  bring  home  the 
money  before  they  could  buy  hats  or  coats,  or  linen  for  shirts. 
This  was  an  imposition  on  the  South.  It  was  wrong  to  compel 
her  to  buy  in  the  home  market  unless  she  could  do  so  as 
reasonably  as  in  a  European  market. 

The  New  England  members  used  much  the  same  argu 
ments  against  the  molasses  duty.  But  they  joined  with  the 
middle  States  in  support  of  a  high  tonnage.  The  House  was 
assured  that  the  distress  of  the  East  for  want  of  a  tonnage 
duty  was  truly  alarming.  Her  shipwrights,  wTho  a  few  years 
before  were  the  busiest  of  men  on  the  best  of  pay,  were  now 
glad  to  work  for  two  shillings  and  sixpence  a  day,  which  was 
simply  starvation  wages.  Her  sail-makers  were  idle.  Her 
lumber  lay  rotting  in  the  forests  where  it  had  been  felled,  for 
want  of  encouragement  to  frame  it  into  ships.  Philadelphia, 
where  before  the  war  five  thousand  tons  of  shipping  were 
built  annually,  had  in  the  last  year  launched  but  thirteen 
hundred.  A  protective  tariff  would,  however,  soon  correct 
this  evil.  It  would  give  life  to  ship-building.  The  sound  of 
the  calking-hammer  would  be  heard  in  every  ship-yard,  and 
American  merchantmen  be  seen  in  every  sea  and  harbor  open 
to  them  in  Europe. 

The  southern  members  drew  a  different  picture.  The  duty, 
they  asserted,  which  was  to  do  all  these  fine  things  for  the  East 
would  ruin  them.  The  moment  foreign  ships  were  shut  out 
of  their  ports  they  were  broken  men.  Of  the  twenty  thou 
sand  tons  employed  in  carrying  the  rice  and  lumber  of  Georgia 
across  the  sea,  fourteen  thousand  tons  were  foreign.  Burke 
startled  the  House  by  asserting  deliberately  that  not  one  ship 
was  owned  in  the  State  of  South  Carolina.  Where  were  they 
to  find  carriers  for  their  produce  when  the  duty  was  laid? 
From  the  East?  Certainly  not,  for  the  East  had  not  ships 
enough  for  herself.  Did  not  Massachusetts  give  employment 
to  eight  thousand  tons  of  foreign  shipping  besides  thirty  thou 
sand  of  her  own  ?  The  tax  would  simply  make  matters  worse. 
The  carrying  trade  would  stay  where  it  was,  in  the  hands  of 


552  THE   FEDEKAL   GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

the  French  and  English,  freightage  would  go  up,  and  the  rice 
and  tobacco  of  the  planters  would  rot  on  their  hands.  Already 
the  rates  were  so  high,  and  the  market  value  of  rice  and  indigo 
so  low,  that  it  was  a  white  day  with  a  merchant  when  the  goods 
he  sent  abroad  paid  for  the  goods  he  brought  home.  Tonnage 
duty  was  a  blow  to  the  prosperity  of  the  South.  It  was  unjust 
to  sacrifice  the  permanent  welfare  of  one  part  of  the  country 
to  the  temporary  interests  of  another. 

The  complaints  were  not  heeded,  and  the  duty  was  laid.* 
Indeed,  the  House,  it  should  seem,  had  reached  the  wise  con 
clusion  that  the  members  from  South  Carolina  and  Georgia 
could  be  pleased  with  nothing.  ~No  sooner  was  a  tax  proposed 
than  Tucker,  or  Jackson,  or  Burke  was  sure  to  rise  and  declare 
that  the  burden  would  fall  on  the  South,  that  it  was  aimed  full 
at  his  State,  would  quote  Scripture  about  the  widow's  mite  and 
the  rich  man's  coffers,  or  remind  the  House  that  the  new  Gov 
ernment  was  not  much  liked  in  Carolina,  and  that  it  would  not 
be  wise  to  increase  the  aversion  by  an  unpopular  and  oppressive 
tax.  The  impost  on  tallow-candles  and  raw  steel,  table-salt  and 
Jamaica  rum,  nails  and  foreign  ships,  was  talked  of  as  if  every 
penny  of  it  would  be  collected  in  the  States  south  of  the  Poto 
mac.  When  such  a  duty  really  was  proposed,  so  great  a  clamor 
arose  that  the  motion  was  hastily  withdrawn. 

Parker,  of  Virginia,  was  the  mover.  Though  himself  a 
slave-holder  and  the  representative  of  a  slave  State,  he  had  the 
boldness  to  stand  up  and  suggest  that  a  duty  of  ten  dollars 
should  be  laid  on  every  slave  brought  in  from  abroad.  He 
was,  he  told  the  House,  sorry  that  the  Constitution  did  not  for 
bid  the  practice  altogether.  It  was  a  great  defect  in  the  in 
strument  to  suffer  such  a  business  to  go  on.  It  was  contrary  to 
revolutionary  principles.  The  southern  members  listened  to 
him  in  consternation.  But  they  kept  their  temper,  and  when 
he  was  done  Jackson  rose  to  reply. 

"  When,"  he  said,  "  he  recollected  the  source  whence  the 
motion  came,  he  ceased  to  be  surprised.  Virginia  was  an  old 
settled  State.  She  had  been  long  in  the  slave-trade,  and  had  all 

*  On  vessels  built  and  owned  in  the  United  States,  six  cents  a  ton ;  on  ves 
sels  built  but  not  owned  in  the  United  States,  thirty  cents ;  on  vessels  of  powers 
having  treaties  with  the  United  States,  thirty  cents ;  all  others,  fifty  cents. 


1789.          DEBATE   ON  THE  TAXATION  OF  SLAVES.  553 

the  slaves  she  wanted.  Their  natural  increase  was  enough  for 
her  uses.  But  before  she  laid  such  a  burden  on  their  importa 
tion  she  should  let  her  less  fortunate  neighbors  get  supplied. 
He  was  well  aware  that  the  business  was  looked  on  as  odious 
to  the  eastward.  There  the  people  did  their  own  work.  It 
had  become  the  fashion  of  the  day  to  talk  of  emancipation. 
He  would  not  go  into  a  discussion  of  the  subject.  But  he 
would  venture  to  express  the  belief  that  it  could  be  shown  that 
the  blacks  were  best  off  in  slavery.  Suppose  they  were  set 
free.  What  would  they  do  ?  Work  for  a  living  ?  Maryland 
had  freed  her  slaves,  and  did  they  betake  themselves  to  work 
for  a  living  ?  Far  from  it.  They  turned  common  pick-pockets 
and  petit-larceny  villains.  If  Virginia  thought  slavery  an 
evil,  let  her  begin  by  setting  her  slaves  free.  Would  she  do 
it  ?  When  that  time  came,  the  sound  of  liberty  would  lose  the 
charms  that  now  made  it  grateful  to  the  ravished  ear." 

Burke,  who  five  years  before  had  thundered  against  the 
Cincinnati  as  dangerous  to  liberty,  now  proceeded  to  defend 
slavery.  He  put  on  an  air  of  indifference,  and  declared  that 
the  House  was  contending  for  nothing.  A  good,  healthy  slave 
was  worth  about  eighty  pounds,  and  five  per  cent  duty  on  that 
sum  would  be  ten  dollars.  He  was  at  a  loss,  therefore,  to  see 
what  difference  it  made  whether  slaves  were  specially  taxed  at 
ten  dollars,  or  were  left  to  be  taxed  at  five  per  cent  with  the 
mass  of  importation.  He  was  stoutly  told  in  reply  that  if  the 
House  was  wrangling  about  nothing,  he  was  not  contending 
for  much.  It  made  a  great  deal  of  difference  whether  slaves 
fresh  from  Africa  were  subjected  to  a  specified  tax  or  were  left 
to  the  ad  valorem  duty,  and  for  two  reasons.  In  the  first  place, 
the  bill  provided  for  a  duty  on  goods,  wares,  and  merchandise. 
The  customs  officers  were  not  used  to  look  upon  human  beings 
as  either  goods,  or  wares,  or  merchandise.  The  slaves  would 
therefore  be  supposed  to  come  in  free  of  duty.  But  there  was, 
in  the  second  place,  something  to  be  gained  more  important  to 
the  country  than  a  few  thousand  dollars  of  revenue.  A  great 
principle  was  at  stake.  It  was  time  this  nefarious  traffic  in 
human  creatures  was  broken  up.  It  was  time  the  country 
yielded  to  the  dictates  of  humanity  and  taxed  slavery  out  of 
existence. 


554  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

On  this  point  the  members  from  the  eastward  were  strongly 
divided.  All  agreed  in  denouncing  the  practice.  They  ab 
horred  slavery  from  their  very  souls.  They  wished  the  Consti 
tution  had  abolished  it.  Some,  however,  declared  that  they 
could  not  bring  themselves  to  lay  a  tax  on  flesh  and  blood.  It 
was  degrading  to  human  nature  to  be  treated  as  bales  of  chintz 
and  casks  of  rum.  Besides,  to  tax  slaves  might  look  like  coun 
tenancing  the  detested  business.  All  this  was  admitted.  It 
certainly  was  lowering  to  humanity  to  be  rated  as  merchandise. 
But  was  it  not  better  to  submit  to  a  little  degradation  than  to 
suffer  the  shameful  traffic  to  go  on  a  moment  longer  ?  It  laid 
the  country  open  to  the  just  charge  of  inconsistency.  It  gave 
the  lie  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  While  the  lips 
of  the  slave-holder  pronounced  all  men  to  be  born  free  and 
equal,  he  was  busy  with  his  hands  tearing  unhappy  negroes 
from  their  homes,  bringing  them  in  chains  across  the  sea,  and 
selling  them  into  the  house  of  bondage  for  a  price.  To  say 
that  it  was  no  rare  thing  in  Africa  for  parents  to  sell  their 
children,  that  prisoners  of  war  were  always  made  slaves,  that 
to  be  dragged  loaded  with  shackles  to  the  rice-swamp  and  the 
tobacco-field  was  merely  to  exchange  one  slavery  for  another, 
and  that  of  all  slaveries  that  among  a  Christian  people  was  the 
least  galling,  was  to  talk  nonsense.  It  was  about  as  sensible  as 
it  would  have  been  to  say  that  because  it  was  the  custom  of 
the  Indians  to  maim  and  torture  their  prisoners  to  death,  every 
Cherokee  or  Chickasaw  brave  that  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Kentuckians  should  instantly  be  drowned.  For  that  would  be 
merely  exchanging  one  form  of  death  for  another,  and  no  one 
could  doubt  that  drowning  was  a  much  more  agreeable  death 
than  roasting  at  the  stake.  If  it  were  barbarous  for  savages  to 
roast  their  captives,  it  would  be  heinous  for  civilized  men  to 
drown  theirs.  If  it  were  cruel  for  pagan  blacks  on  the  coast 
of  Guinea,  who  made  no  pretensions  to  equality  among  men, 
to  enslave  the  prisoners  of  their  club  and  bow,  what  could  be 
said  of  civilized  Christians  who,  having  fought  for  and  gained 
their  own  liberty  under  the  pretence  that  liberty  was  a  natural 
right  of  man,  proceeded  to  take  away  this  natural  right  from 
others  ? 

Unhappily  the  debate  went  no  further.     Parker  yielded  to 


1789.  PERMANENT  RESIDENCE  OF  CONGRESS  DISCUSSED.  555 

the  advice  of  his  friends,  withdrew  his  motion,  and  a  few  days 
later  asked  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  providing  for  a  duty  on  cer 
tain  imported  persons  till  the  year  1808. 

And  now  for  a  while  business  went  smoothly  on.  The 
import  and  tonnage  bills  were  disposed  of,  bills  establishing 
the  Department  of  State,  the  Treasury  Department,  the  War 
Department,  and  the  Land  Office  were  ordered  to  be  brought 
in,  and  some  amendments  to  the  Constitution  were  discussed. 
As  they  passed  from  the  House  they  were  seventeen  in  num 
ber,  and  were  based  upon  such  amendments  as  had  been  in 
sisted  on  by  the  conventions  of  Virginia,  New  Hampshire,  and 
New  York.  The  Senate,  by  compressing  some  and  -striking 
out  others,  cut  down  the  number  to  twelve  ;  the  House  agreed, 
and  in  this  form  they  were  sent  to  the  States.  Of  the  twelve, 
ten  were  ratified  by  three  fourths  of  the  States,  and  became 
thenceforth  part  of  the  Constitution.  Two,  that  which  regu 
lated  the  number,  and  that  which  fixed  the  pay  of  the  mem 
bers  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  were  most  wisely  thrown 
out  by  the  States. 

It  was  now  the  third  of  September,  and  the  House,  agree 
able  to  a  previous  notice,  listened  to  a  motion  for  selecting  a 
place  of  permanent  residence  for  the  General  Government. 

The  debate  began  at  once,  and  was  one  of  the  longest  and 
the  most  acrimonious  the  members  had  yet  been  engaged  in. 
It  began  on  a  Thursday  morning,  and  was  not  over  when  the 
members  adjourned  for  dinner  on  the  following  Monday. 
Every  one  of  the  fifty-nine  had  something  to  say,  and  the  re 
ports  of  the  speeches  that  have  come  down  to  us,  though 
broken  and  meagre,  are  full  of  interest.  They  show  most 
clearly  what  was  the  common  opinion  among  men  of  that  time 
concerning  the  prosperity  and  greatness  of  the  country  in  our 
own. 

The  eastern  members,  it  should  seem,  were  ill-disposed  to 
consider  the  matter  at  all.  The  close  of  the  session  was  near 
at  hand.  Much  unfinished  business  was  still  before  the  House. 
The  choice  of  a  spot  for  the  national  city  was  not  pressing, 
and  might  therefore  be  left  over  till  Congress  met  again.  But 
when  they  saw  that  the  House  was  determined  to  go  on,  they 
organized  a  caucus,  called  in  a  few  of  the  representatives  from 


556  THE   FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

the  middle  States,  talked  the  matter  over,  decided  that  the 
new  city  ought  to  be  as  near  the  centre  of  population,  wealth, 
and  territory  as  an  easy  connection  with  the  Atlantic  and  the 
Ohio  would  allow,  and  that  the  desired  place  could  undoubt 
edly  be  found  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Susquehanna.  A  mo 
tion  to  this  effect  was  accordingly  made  and  carried.  The  next 
moment  the  southern  members  were  on  their  legs  calling  to 
the  Speaker  for  a  hearing. 

What,  such  was  the  substance  of  their  arguments,  what 
was  the  use  of  laying  down  for  guidance  principles  so  vague 
and  absurd  ?  What  was  to  be  understood  by  the  centre  of 
population,  wealth,  and  territory  ?  There  was  one  centre  for 
wealth,  and  another  for  population,  and  a  third  for  territory. 
Did  the  House  propose  to  find  the  centre  of  these  three  cen 
tres?  The  thing  could  not  be  done.  The  numbers  of  the 
people  were  rapidly  increasing  in  some  States  and  rapidly  de 
creasing  in  others.  Thousands  of  foreigners  were  settling  in 
the  South.  Thousands  of  farmers  from  the  eastward  were 
pouring  down  the  Ohio  valley  to  the  rich  lands  beyond  the 
mountains.  What  was  the  centre  of  population  when  the  site 
for  the  Federal  city  was  chosen  would  therefore  cease  to  be 
the  centre  before  half  the  Government  buildings  were  put  up. 
And  how  was  the  centre  of  territory  to  be  found  out  ?  Was 
the  uninhabited  wilderness  to  be  considered?  Should  they 
take  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  on  one  side  and  the  Missouri  on 
the  other,  and  seek  the  geographical  centre  ?  If  so,  it  would 
surely  fall  on  a  spot  far  away  from  the  limits  of  civilization, 
and  abounding  in  beasts  and  savage  men.  But  they  were 
assured  the  populated  part  of  the  country  ought  not  to  be 
thought  of,  and  that  if  the  river  St.  Croix  were  made  the  east 
ern  and  the  river  St.  Mary's  the  southern  limit,  the  centre  of 
territory  would  be  found  hard  by  the  banks  of  the  Susquehanna. 
Lee  hoped  that  some  member  well  posted  in  geography  would 
show  how  these  banks  conformed  with  the  guiding  principles 
laid  down  in  the  motion ;  how  they  communicated  with  the 
Atlantic,  and  how  they  were  connected  with  the  territory  of 
the  West. 

Hartley  took  him  at  his  word  and  answered  him.  Wright's 
Ferry  was  such  a  town.  It  stood  upon  the  east  bank  some 


1789.  YORKTOWN  PROPOSED.  557 

thirty-five  miles  from  sea-water.  As  for  the  Susquehanna,  so 
great  was  the  volume  of  its  waters  that  ships  could  at  any  time 
of  year  sail  up  it  to  the  waters  of  Otsego  lake.  Three  fine 
rivers  ran  into  it,  from  the  north,  the  west,  and  the  south. 
The  Tioga  was  navigable  for  a  great  distance,  and  was  con 
nected  by  an  easy  portage  with  the  Genesee,  which  emptied 
into  Lake  Ontario.  The  Juniata  nearly  connected  with  the 
Kiskimientas,  and  that  with  the  Ohio.  A  short  land-carriage 
joined  the  head  of  the  west  branch  with  the  Alleghany,  which 
gave  easy  connection  with  the  frontier  towns  of  Kentucky. 
As  to  the  town3  it  was  no  mean  place.  But  ten  miles  sepa 
rated  Wright's  Ferry  from  the  great  city  of  Lancaster.  The 
climate  was  salubrious.  The  soil  and  the  river  yielded  plenti 
fully.  If  the  honorable  gentleman  was  disposed  to  give  atten 
tion  to  a  dish  of  fish,  he  could  find  none  finer  than  could  be 
drawn  from  the  waters  of  the  Susquehanna.  "Then  why 
not,"  said  Lee,  "  go  at  once  to  Yorktown  ?  Why  fix  on  the 
banks  of  a  swift  river  when  it  is  possible  to  occupy  the  shores 
of  Codorus  creek  ? " 

He  was  assured  by  Goodhue  that  the  Susquehanna  was 
much  to  be  preferred.  There  was  the  centre  of  territory.  The 
centre  of  population,  it  was  true,  lay  to  the  northward.  But 
the  eastern  members  were  ready,  from  a  spirit  of  conciliation, 
to  let  that  pass.  They  well  knew  that  the  centre  of  population 
would  not  change  for  ages,  and  that  when  it  did,  the  movement 
would  be  to  the  eastward,  not  to  the  south  ;  to  the  manufactur 
ing,  not  to  the  agricultural  States. 

This  remark  was  too  much  for  the  patience  of  one  of  the 
representatives  from  Georgia.  He  flew  into  a  passion  and 
demanded  to  know  what  the  people  would  say  when  they 
learned  that  the  members  from  New  England  and  'New  York 
had  fixed  on  the  seat  of  Government  for  the  United  States. 
This  was  not  proper  language  to  go  out  to  freemen.  Jealousies 
were  already  abroad,  and  this  would  blow  the  coals  of  sedition 
into  a  consuming  flame.  Were  the  other  members  of  the 
Union  not  to  be  consulted  ?  Were  the  eastern  men  to  dictate 
to  the  country,  and  fix  the  Federal  city  where  it  pleased 
them  ?  Why  not  also  fix  the  principles  of  government  while 
their  hands  were  in  ?  Why  not  come  forward  and  say  to  the 


558  THE   FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

South,  "  Give  us  up  your  principles  and  we  will  govern  you  ? " 
This  looked  like  aristocracy.  It  was  not  true  that  the  geo 
graphical  centre  was  to  be  found  on  the  Susquehanna.  From 
Wright's  Ferry  to  the  nearest  point  of  the  province  of  Maine 
was  four  hundred  miles,  and  to  the  nearest  point  in  the  upper 
district  of  Georgia  it  was  nine  hundred  miles. 

This  in  turn  was  denied.  From  the  Ferry  to  the  extreme 
of  Maine,  a  member  said,  was  seven  hundred  and  sixty  miles. 
To  Savannah  the  distance  was  precisely  the  same.  To  Ken 
tucky  it  was  seven  hundred  and  thirty  or  forty  miles.  But 
aside  from  all  this,  there  was  surely  no  occasion  for  such  a 
display  of  warmth.  It  had  been  merely  stated  that  a  consulta 
tion  of  the  eastern  members  had  taken  place.  Was  there  any 
thing  wrong  in  this  ?  So  far  from  being  a  mark  of  an  aristo 
cratic  spirit,  it  was  merely  a  proof  that  men,  attentive  to  their 
own  business,  had  chosen  this  way  of  discussing  it.  The  pro 
posed  city  ought  to  be  placed  somewhere  between  the  Poto 
mac  and  the  Delaware.  The  Potomac  was  objectionable.  It 
was  believed  in  the  East  to  be  unhealthy.  Yast  numbers  of 
New  England  adventurers  had  gone  to  the  southern  States, 
and  all  had  found  graves  there.  The  Delaware  was  to  be  pre 
ferred.  The  strength  and  riches  of  the  country  lay  in  the 
North.  There,  too,  was  the  centre  of  population.  For  surely 
no  man  of  candor  would  for  a  moment  pretend  that  southern 
slaves,  men  with  no  rights  whatever,  should  be  taken  thought 
of  in  determining  where  the  seat  of  Government  should  be. 
As  well  might  they  count  the  black  cattle  of  New  England. 

At  this  stage  of  the  debate  Yining  obtained  a  hearing.  He 
was  the  only  representative  Delaware  had  in  the  House,  was  a 
man  of  small  parts,  and  never  rose  to  speak  but  he  entertained 
the  members  with  a  style  of  oratory  for  which  florid  is  a  mild 
term.  After  some  remarks  about  the  rays  of  Government,  the 
unpolished  sons  of  earth,  and  the  pains  he  had  taken  to  chastise 
the  prejudices  of  his  mind,  he  declared  he  had  taken  no  part  in 
making  the  bargain.  He  was  at  a  loss  to  know  whether  Con 
gress  was  to  tickle  the  trout  in  the  stream  Codorus,  to  build 
their  sumptuous  palaces  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac,  or  ad 
mire  Commerce  with  her  expanded  wings  on  the  waters  of  the 
Delaware.  For  himself  he  leaned  toward  the  Potomac. 


1789.        DISCUSSION  OVEE  THE   SITE   OF  CONGRESS.        559 

And  now  a  number  of  places  were  suggested.  One  mem 
ber  moved  Peach  Bottom,  a  second  was  for  Harrisburg,  a 
third  for  the  Hudson.  But  the  debate  was  narrowed  down  to 
a  comparison  of  the  claims  of  the  Susquehanna  and  the  Poto 
mac.  The  advantages  of  the  latter  were  well  set  forth  by  Stone, 
of  Maryland. 

In  fixing  the  seat  of  Government  it  was  proper,  he  thought, 
to  have  clearly  in  view  not  only  the  present  importance  of  the 
States,  but  their  weight  at  a  day  in  the  near  future.  He  did 
not  mean  a  visionary  importance  or  a  chimerical  expectation, 
but  such  a  one  as  could  be  proved  with  as  much  certainty  as 
that  effects  follow  causes.  Now,  it  did  not  need  demonstration 
to  show  that  the  increase  of  population  to  the  eastward  was 
merely  conditional.  There  was  nothing  to  invite  men  to  settle 
there.  The  climate  was  severe.  The  winters  were  long.  The 
summers  were  short.  The  soil  was  cold  and  barren.  Even  if 
a  few  hardy  adventurers  did  come  into  New  England,  they 
would  soon  be  driven,  by  the  very  law  which  determined  the 
increase  of  men,  to  seek  the  States  beyond  the  Potomac.  Men 
multiplied  in  proportion  to  the  ease  with  which  they  secured 
food.  But  food  was  more  plentiful  in  a  warm  than  in  a  cold 
climate.  It  was  clear,  therefore,  that  at  no  very  distant  day  the 
population  of  the  continent  would  be  massed  in  the  warm  and 
fertile  States  of  the  South.  Indeed,  this  had  already  begun. 
Look  at  that  part  of  the  West  called  Kentucky.  Compare  its 
increase  in  population  since  the  war  with  that  of  any  State  to 
the  eastward.  It  had  surpassed  them  all.  Nothing  like  it  had 
ever  before  been  known  in  America.  But  this  vast  crowd  of 
adventurers  that  was  daily  spreading  over  the  valley  of  the 
Ohio  should  be  closely  watched.  Everybody  knew  that  immi 
grants  were  in  general  bold  and  hardy  spirits,  caring  little  for 
laws,  hating  strict  government,  and  ready  for  any  enterprise, 
however  desperate.  But  those  of  Kentucky  were  particularly 
so.  They  were  near  a  great  rival  nation,  eager  to  make  them 
its  subjects.  They  were  independent  in  their  condition.  Their 
soil  was  rich,  their  crops  were  abundant ;  they  wanted  scarcely 
anything  the  East  could  give  them,  and  what  they  wanted  from 
abroad  the  Spaniards  would  gladly  give  them  in  exchange  for 
bacon  and  flour,  butter  and  hams.  Everything  tempted  them 


560  THE  FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

to  break  the  few  ties  that  bound  them  to  the  East,  form  a  new 
government,  or  go  over  in  a  body  to  the  Crown  of  Spain.  To 
hinder  this  the  Government  must  go  near  them  ;  near  enough 
to  be  felt  by  them  and  to  be  within  easy  reach  of  them.  The 
banks  of  the  Potomac  were  therefore  the  place  for  the  Federal 
city.  The  Susquehanna  came  down  from  the  north.  The  Poto 
mac  came  from  the  west,  and,  of  all  the  rivers  in  the  Union 
that  mingled  their  waters  with  the  Atlantic,  was  the  only  one 
that  afforded  a  practical,  short,  and  safe  communication  with 
Kentucky  and  the  West. 

The  day  closed  with  some  savage  remarks  from  the  Vir 
ginia  delegates.  Lee  had  been  upon  his  legs  urging  the  claims 
of  the  Potomac,  and  before  he  sat  down  reminded  the  House 
of  some  of  the  predictions  of  the  Antifederalists.  The  Con 
stitution,  it  was  well  known,  was  adopted  with  great  difficulty 
by  Virginia.  The  States  east  of  Pennsylvania,  the  Antifeder 
alists  had  said,  would  form  confederacies  and  destroy  the  South. 
To  this  the  Federalists  had  answered,  No !  A  magnanimous 
policy  would  spring  from  common  interests  and  common 
dangers,  jealousies  would  cease,  the  States  would  unite  and 
henceforth  think  only  of  the  good  of  all.  The  argument  had 
been  successful,  and  Virginia,  with  many  fears,  but  strong 
hopes,  came  into  the  Union.  But  how  would  the  Antifeder 
alists  rejoice  when  they  learned  that  their  worst  predictions 
had  come  to  pass  ;  nay,  that  the  northern  States  had  not  even 
waited  till  the  Government  was  organized,  before  they  sacri 
ficed  the  South  to  their  own  selfish  ends  ! 

Lawrence  replied  to  him.  If  he  wished  to  convince  the  House 
he  must  make  use  of  arguments,  not  terrors.  The  Federal  Gov 
ernment  was  in  no  danger.  The  South  was  quite  safe.  His 
fears,  happily,  were  not  shared  in  even  by  his  colleagues.  The 
House  could  recall  a  day  not  very  long  since  when  the  tonnage 
bill  was  under  debate,  and  how  a  member  from  Virginia  had 
stood  up,  congratulated  the  House  on  its  moderation  and  even- 
handed  justice,  and  declared  that,  could  the  proceedings  of  that 
day  have  been  foreseen  in  the  Virginia  Convention,  many  ob 
jections  brought  against  the  Constitution  would  never  have 
been  made.  Madison  owned  having  uttered  such  a  remark. 
"  But,"  said  he,  warmly,  "  give  me  leave  now  to  say  that  had 


1789.  BILL  FOR  A  COMMISSION   SENT   TO   THE   SENATE.    561 

a  prophet  arisen  up  in  that  body  and  brought  the  declarations 
and  proceedings  of  this  day  into  view,  I  as  firmly  believe  Vir 
ginia  would  not  at  this  moment  have  been  part  of  the  Union." 
"  Is  it  to  be  contended,"  exclaimed  Sedgwick,  "  that  the  ma 
jority  shall  not  rule  ?  And  shall  the  minority,  because  they 
cannot  carry  their  point,  accuse  us  of  a  lack  of  candor  ?  Are 
we  to  be  told  to  our  faces  that  a  great  State  would  not  have 
joined  the  Union  could  she  have  foreseen  the  proceedings  of 
the  House  ?  Certain  members  brought  this  business  forward 
themselves.  They  drove  the  House  into  it.  We  prayed,  we 
supplicated  for  time.  They  stood  firm.  But  now  on  a  sudden, 
when  matters  are  not  to  their  liking,  they  in  turn  are  clam 
oring  for  time,  and  blaming  the  House  for  doing  the  very 
thing  they  began  by  demanding.  Six  weeks'  deliberation  will 
not  change  a  single  opinion."  Wadsworth  was  yet  more  em 
phatic  for  an  immediate  vote.  He  was  set  against  bargaining. 
It  would  do  no  credit  to  the  House.  He  would  not  excuse 
himself.  He  was  willing  the  whole  matter  of  bargaining  should 
be  shown  up.  He  did  not  dare  to  vote  for  the  Potomac.  If 
the  seat  of  Government  went  there,  he  knew  the  whole  of  ~New 
England  would  think  the  Union  destroyed.  Since  members 
had  been  forced,  nay,  dragged  by  the  throat,  he  might  say,  to 
this  business,  he  hoped  it  would  be  finished  at  once. 

But  the  committee  rose,  reported  progress,  and  spent  three 
more  days  in  ill-natured  debate.  At  last,  after  all  manner  of 
motions  and  counter-motions,  a  final  vote  was  reached  on  the 
question  that  a  commission  be  appointed  to  select  a  spot  on  the 
banks  of  the  Susquehanna,  buy  land,  and  put  up  buildings. 
"When  the  question  was  put  by  the  Speaker,  twenty-eight  stood 
up  on  the  affirmative ;  twenty-one  remained  seated  on  the  nega 
tive.  So  a  bill  was  brought  in  and  sent  to  the  Senate. 

The  Senate  struck  out  the  Susquehanna,  put  in  a  site  one 
mile  from  Philadelphia,  passed  it,  and  sent  the  bill  back  to  the 
House.  The  House  was  very  indignant.  All  kinds  of  rumors 
were  afloat.  It  was  declared  the  Senate  were  keeping  the  ap 
propriation  bill  as  a  hostage,  and  that  the  House  ought  to  show 
a  proper  spirit.  But  the  members  were  weary  of  the  matter, 
concurred  in  the  amendment,  and  the  next  day  the  House  ad- 
journed. 

TOL.    I — 37 


562  THE  FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vr. 

It  is  both  curious  and  interesting  to  observe  how  the  wis 
dom  of  the  best  statesmen  of  that  day  has  been  turned  into 
f oolishness  by  a  long  series  of  events  which,  had  they  been  fore 
told,  would  have  been  thought  the  dreams  of  a  madman.  The 
vast  stretch  of  territory  then  the  richest  possession  of  the  Crown 
of  Spain,  and  of  which  no  thought  was  taken,  has  since  been 
added  to  the  States,  and  is  now  thickly  settled  by  fifteen  mill 
ions  of  souls.  Nay,  Ohio  and  Illinois,  which,  when  St.  Clair 
governed  them,  contained  but  a  few  block-houses  and  a  half- 
dozen  'straggling  hamlets,  now  boast,  each  of  them,  of  a  popula 
tion  but  a  few  thousand  less  than  that  of  the  eleven  States 
represented  in  the  first  Congress  under  the  Constitution.  The 
centre  of  population  near  which  the  Federal  city  was  to  stand 
was  the  next  year  found  to  be  twenty-three  miles  east  of  Balti 
more,  where  Goodhue  had  declared  it  would  remain  fixed  for 
ages,  and  that  when  it  did  move,  would  travel  to  the  eastward. 
But  when  the  century  closed,  the  centre  of  population  was 
eighteen  miles  to  the  west  of  Baltimore,  and  from  that  day 
forth  it  has  gone  steadily  westward  along  the  thirty-ninth  paral 
lel  of  north  latitude.  Never  has  it  at  any  time  been  more  than 
sixteen  miles  to  the  north,  nor  more  than  three  miles  to  the 
south,  of  that  line.  At  the  close  of  the  first  decade  of  the  pres 
ent  century  the  centre  of  population  was  forty  miles  northwest 
of  Washington.  In  1820  it  was  sixteen  miles  north  of  Wood 
stock,  in  Virginia.  When  Jackson  was  President  it  was  nine 
teen  miles  west-southwest  of  Moorefield,  a  little  town  hard  by 
the  boundary  of  Maryland.  When  Harrison  died  the  centre 
had  advanced  to  sixteen  miles  south  of  Clarksburg,  in  West 
Virginia,  When  the  middle  of  the  century  w^as  reached  it 
stood  twenty-three  miles  southeast  of  Parkersburg,  in  the  same 
State.  When  Lincoln  was  elected  it  had  entered  Ohio,  and 
was  twenty  miles  south  of  Chillicothe.  In  ten  years  it  had 
travelled  eighty-one  miles.  Then  came  the  civil  war,  the  rate 
of  advance  fell  to  forty-two  miles,  and  in  1870  it  was  forty- 
eight  miles  east  by  north  of  Cincinnati.  The  rate  then  in 
creased,  and  when  the  tenth  census  was  taken  the  centre  of 
population  had  passed  eight  miles  west  of  Cincinnati.  In 
ninety  years  this  centre,  once  thought  so  fixed  that  the  perma 
nent  seat  of  Government  was  to  be  placed  near  to  it,  had 


1789.  PRESIDENTIAL  ETIQUETTE.  563 

moved  almost  due  westward  four  hundred  and  fifty-seven 
miles,  and  gone  beyond  the  eighth  city  in  the  Union,  which, 
in  the  same  year  the  first  census  was  taken,  stood  in  the  midst 
of  a  vast  solitude,  and  was  called  by  St.  Clair,  Cincinnati. 

"While  the  House  was  busy  debating  by  what  name  the 
President  should  be  called,  Washington  was  troubled  to  know 
in  what  manner  he  should  behave.  He  was  the  first  of  our 
long  line  of  Presidents.  He  had  therefore  no  precedents  to 
guide  him  in  private  and  public  treatment  of  men.  The  place 
was  one  of  great  dignity.  But  just  how  much  dignity  was 
consistent  with  that  republican  simplicity  which  was  the  boast 
of  the  time  he  did  not  know.  The  city  was  gay.  The  people 
affected  fashion,  and  many  among  them  who  had  enjoyed  opu 
lence  in  the  colonial  days  looked  back  with  some  regret  on 
the  fine  clothes,  the  hosts  of  servants,  the  equipage,  and  the 
ceremonial  of  the  royal  governors.  They  would  gladly  have 
seen  the  modest,  sad-looking  gentleman  in  black,  whom  they 
had  raised  to  the  chief  place  in  the  land,  have  a  guard  at  his 
door,  ride  out  followed  by  a  train  of  menials,  and  would  have 
gone,  on  reception-days,  with  some  pride,  through  lines  of 
liveried  servants  to  bow  at  the  foot  of  a  very  low  throne.  But 
the  extreme  Antifederalists,  the  men  who  every  election-day 
denounced  aristocracy  and  the  well-born,  begrudged  him  even 
the  fine  house  and  the  fine  furniture  already  given  him  by 
Congress,  and  cursed  the  vandals  who  were  levelling  the  ram 
parts  of  the  old  fort  to  make  way  for  a  new  mansion,  yet  more 
costly  and  spacious  than  the  old.  Neither  party  was  to  be 
offended.  He  did  not  wish  by  a  too  great  simplicity  to  lay 
himself  open  to  the  jibes  and  sarcasms  of  that  influential  class 
whose  after-dinner  talk  was,  as  Jefferson  complained,  monarch 
ical  to  a  shocking  degree.*  He  did  not  wish,  by  a  too  great 
exclusiveness,  to  call  forth  the  reproaches  of  those  who  bitterly 
bemoaned  what  they  termed  the  decline  of  republican  spirit. 
In  1775  they  were  accustomed,  they  said,  to  hear  the  phrase, 

*  "  But  I  cannot  describe  the  wonder  and  mortification  with  which  the  table 
conversations  filled  me.  Politics  was  the  chief  topic,  and  a  preference  of  kingly 
over  republican  government  was  evidently  the  favorite  sentiment."  Jefferson's 
Anas.  He  is  referring  to  the  series  of  dinners  given  him  on  his  return  from 
France. 


564  THE  FEDEKAL  GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

"  vox  populi,  vox  dei."  Now  they  were  daily  told  that  democ 
racies  were  a  volcano.  Then  it  was,  "  the  natural  equality  of 
mankind  "  ;  now  it  was,  "  the  well-born."  Then  it  was,  "  sons 
of  liberty";  now  it  was,  ''State  demagogues."  Then  it  was, 
"  our  excellent  State  constitutions  "  ;  now  it  was,  "  the  monster 
with  thirteen  heads."  Fifteen  years  before,  the  expression  was, 
"  the  free  and  United  States  of  America  "  ;  now  it  was,  "  the  na 
tional  Government."  * 

Washington  therefore  drew  up  a  set  of  questions  as  to  his 
official  conduct,  and  submitted  them  to  Hamilton  and  Adams. 
Should  he,  he  asked,  associate  with  all,  or  see  none  ?  Should 
he  keep  open  house  after  the  manner  of  the  Presidents  of  Con 
gress  ;  or  would  it  be  enough  to  give  a  feast  on  such  great 
days  as  the  fourth  of  July,  the  thirtieth  of  November,  and 
the  fourth  of  March  ?  Would  one  day  in  the  week  be  suffi 
cient  to  receive  visits  of  compliment  ?  What  would  be  said 
if  he  were  sometimes  to  be  seen  at  quiet  tea-parties  ?  When 
Congress  adjourned,  should  he  make  a  tour  ? 

The  answers  that  came  back  removed  his  doubts,  and  it 
was  soon  announced  in  the  newspapers  that  the  President 
would  receive  calls  on  Tuesdays  and  Fridays. f  Thursdays 
were  set  apart  for  congressional  dinners.  On  Saturdays  the 
President  might  sometimes  be  seen  riding  through  the  outskirts 
of  the  city  mounted  on  a  fine  Virginia  horse,  or  seated  in  his 
box  at  the  theatre.  The  only  one  in  the  city  at  that  time  was 
on  John  street.  It  was  mean  and  badly  furnished,  had  been 
put  up  for  the  American  Company  of  comedians  before  the 
war,  and  used  by  the  British  officers  during  their  occupancy  of 
the  city.  There,  in  a  box  adorned  with  fitting  emblems,  the 
President  was  to  be  seen  much  oftener  than  many  of  the  citi 
zens  appro ved.J  On  such  occasions  the  President's  March 
was  always  played.  It  had  been  composed  by  Pfyles,  the 
leader  of  the  few  violins  and  drums  that  passed  for  the  orches 
tra,  and  played  for  the  first  time  on  Trenton  Bridge  as  Wash- 

*  Boston  Independent  Chronicle.  Also,  New  York  Journal,  September  10,  1790. 

f  New  York  Journal,  May  7,  1789. 

\  It  was  at  this  time  that  opera-glasses  began  to  be  used  in  the  theatre.  The 
pit  treated  this  as  a  great  piece  of  affectation,  and  the  fashion  of  using  "  spy 
glasses"  was  much  ridiculed.  See  New  York  Packet,  July  28,  1789. 


1789.  THE  PRESIDENT'S  TOUR.  565 

ington  rode  over  on  his  way  to  be  inaugurated.  The  air  had 
a  martial  ring  that  caught  the  ear  of  the  multitude,  soon. be 
came  popular  as  Washington's  March,  and  when  Adams  was 
President,  in  a  moment  of  great  party  excitement  Judge  Hop- 
kinson  wrote  and  adapted  to  it  the  famous  lines  beginning 
"  Hail,  Columbia."  Thenceforth  it  ceased  to  be  known  as  the 
President's  March,  and  under  the  name  of  "  Hail,  Columbia  " 
has  become  one  of  the  most  stirring  of  our  national  airs.* 

Shortly  after  the  Houses  rose,  the  President  set  forth  to 
show  himself  to  the  people  of  the  eastern  States.  He  went 
through  the  chief  towns  of  Connecticut,  carefully  avoided 
Rhode  Island,  passed  a  few  days  at  Boston,  rode  thence  to 
New  Hampshire,  and  came  back  by  another  route  from  that 
by  which  he  went.  Everywhere  he  was  received  with  a  great 
show  of  Federal  spirit.  Bonfires  were  lit,  triumphal  arches 
put  up,  feasts  were  made  ready,  and  odes  written  in  his  honor. 
The  farmers  deserted  their  orchards  and  flocked  in  thousands 
to  the  villages  to  gaze  once  more  on  that  passionless  face  and 
firmly  set  mouth. f  He  was  much  gratified  with  the  warmth  of 
his  reception  in  States  so  ill-disposed  to  the  new  Government ; 
and,  had  it  riot  been  for  one  episode,  would  have  brought  back 
none  but  the  liveliest  recollections  of  unalloyed  pleasure.  A 
great  affront  was,  however,  offered  him  at  Boston.  John  Han 
cock  was  then  Governor  of  Massachusetts.  And  of  all  the 
long  line  of  men  who  have  filled  that  high  place,  he  was  the 
most  narrow,  the  most  pompous,  the  most  vain.  The  Gov 
ernors  of  other  States  hastened  to  the  borders,  bade  the  Presi 
dent  welcome,  and  escorted  him  with  troops  to  the  capital  city. 
But  Hancock  kept  his  house,  suffered  Washington  to  enter  the 
State,  ride  to  Boston,  and  pass  a  night  there  before  he  could 
bring  himself  to  make  the  first  call.  Hancock  was  a  strong 
Antifederalist.  It  seemed  necessary,  therefore,  to  his  warped) 
and  narrow  mind  that  he  should  hold  high  the  extreme  doc 
trine  of  independent  States.  Washington  was,  he  claimed,  but 

*  See  a  note  on  this  in  Custis's  Recollections  and  Private  Memoirs  of  Wash 
ington.  Also,  Historical  Magazine,  January,  1859,  where  Baltimore  Clipper,  1841, 
is  cited.  The  name  of  the  composer  is  spelled  Fyles,  Feyles,  and  Pfyles. 

f  For  account  of  the  President's  tour,  see  Connecticut  Courant,  Columbian 
Centincl,  United  States  Chronicle,  New  Hampshire  Gazette,  Boston  Gazette,  and 
the  Mercury. 


566  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

the  chief  of  a  Confederation  of  States.  He  was  the  chief  of  an 
independent  State.  It  was  clearly  the  duty  of  the  President 
to  make  the  first  visit.  Hancock  accordingly  pleaded  the  gout, 
gave  a  dinner  to  some  boon  companions  and  officers  of  a 
French  man-of-war  in  the  harbor,  and  not  till  the  whole  city 
was  crying  shame  did  he  send  to  excuse  his  folly  and  beg  to 
know  when  the  President  would  be  at  home.  The  affront 
was  indeed  a  gross  one,  and  long  remembered.*  With  this 
single  exception  the  tour  was  one  unending  ovation,  and  the 
President  returned  to  New  York  late  in  the  fall  most  favor 
ably  impressed  with  the  state  of  feeling  in  New  England,  f 

Once  more  at  home,  his  time  was  taken  up  with  the  urgent 
demands  of  office-seekers,  and  in  consultations  with  the  lately 
appointed  heads  of  departments.  What  is  now  known  as  the 
Cabinet  did  not  then  exist.  But  Congress  had  at  the  last  session 
authorized  the  formation  of  the  three  departments,  of  State, 
of  War,  and  the  Treasury,  and  at  the  head  of  each  had  been 
placed  some  man  of  ability  and  integrity.  Jefferson  was  has 
tening  home  from  France  to  become  Secretary  of  Foreign  Af 
fairs.  To  Knox,  the  favorite  general  of  Washington,  was  in 
trusted  the  Department  of  War.  Hamilton  had  been  called  to 
the  Treasury.  Randolph  was  Attorney-General.  The  post- 
office,  then  an  unimportant  branch  of  Government,  was  given 
.to  Samuel  Osgood,  of  Massachusetts. 

In  point  of  importance,  indeed,  the  Treasury  was  first. 
The  army  numbered  but  a  few  hundred  men.  The  foreign 
relations  of  the  country  consisted  in  little  more  than  the  occa 
sional  exchange  of  formal  notes  with  the  ministers  of  three 

*  The  Boston  papers,  the  Mercury  and  the  Gazette,  give  no  account  of,  and 
make  no  comments  on,  the  rudeness  of  the  Governor.  The  story,  however,  is  fully 
told  by  W.  H.  Sumner  in  Some  Recollections  of  Washington's  Visit  to  Boston, 
in  New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register  for  April,  1860;  in  Breck's 
Recollections,  pp.  128,  129;  and  by  a  writer  under  the  signature  of  Centinel. 

f  In  illustration  of  the  manners  of  the  times,  the  following  is  worthy  of  notice. 
The  city  is  Boston.  "  The  ladies,  in  honor  of  the  President,  have  agreed  to  wear 
the  following  device  in  a  sash  :  A  broad  white  ribbon  with  G.  W.  in  gold  letters 
(or  spangles)  encircled  with  a  laurel  wreath  in  front ;  on  one  end  of  the  sash  to 
be  painted  an  American  eagle,  and  the  other  a  fleur-de-lis."  Pennsylvania  Jour 
nal,  November  11,  1789.  See,  also,  Fisher  Ames  to  Dwight,  October  21  and  30, 
1789  ;  and  Sumner's  Some  Recollections  of  Washington's  Visit,  etc.  New  England 
Historical  and  Genealogical  Register,  April,  1860,  p.  161. 


1790.  SECOND  SESSION"  OF  THE  FIKST  CONGRESS  BEGINS.  567 

or  four  continental  powers.  But  the  patronage  of  the  Treas 
ury  was  large,  and  so  long  as  the  debts  remained  unpaid  the 
management  of  its  affairs  was  likely  to  be  of  far  more  concern 
to  the  country  than  the  number  of  rations  distributed  to  the 
army,  or  what  went  on  at  Madrid  or  the  Hague.  To  this  re 
sponsible  post  had  been  called  a  young  man  but  just  turned 
thirty-two.  But  such  were  the  powers  of  his  mind  that  Ham 
ilton  at  thirty-two  was  as  well  fitted  for  the  place  as  any  man 
of  his  time  at  fifty-two.  As  a  politician  he  was  believed  by 
his  contemporaries  to  have  been  not  over-scrupulous,  and  to 
have  sometimes  followed  dark  and  crooked  ways.  But  as  a 
public  servant  his  zeal,  his  industry,  his  ability,  were  never  at 
tacked  even  by  Jefferson,  who  hated  him  with  an  animosity 
more  implacable  than  the  animosity  of  Burr. 

The  new  Secretary  had  not  been  many  days  in  office  before 
he  was  hard  at  work  on  a  report  on  the  state  of  the  national 
debt  and  the  best  way  to  pay  it.  But  while  his  work  was  still 
unfinished  the  Houses  met  and  began  a  session  singularly 
eventful,  a  session  from  which  dates  that  financial  policy  which 
has  been  so  fruitful  of  wonders,  a  session  in  which  some  ques 
tions,  long  afterward  set  at  rest  by  an  appeal  to  the  sword, 
were  for  the  first  time  long  and  fiercely  debated. 

In  neither  of  the  two  Houses  which  met  on  the  fourth  of 
January,  1Y90,  can  a  party-line  be  distinguished.  There  was 
indeed  among  the  people  the  great  line  which  separated  the 
Federal  party  from  the  Antifederal  party,  the  upholders  from 
the  detractors  of  the  Constitution.  But  the  few  Antifederal- 
ists  who  found  seats  in  the  Senate  and  the  House  were  too 
weak  in  numbers  to  form  an  opposition  or  to  keep  back  the 
current  of  public  affairs.  Indeed,  their  antifederalism  soon 
wore  off,  for  the  heat  of  party  feud  was  cold  and  dull  com 
pared  with  the  intense  fervor  of  sectional  hate  ;  the  hate  that 
sprang  up  between  the  East  as  the  East,  and  the  South  as  the 
South.  No  man  in  the  South  was  a  firmer  or  more  bigoted 
Antifederalist  than  Burke.  But  through  all  that  long  and 
rancorous  session  Burke  put  away  his  party  feeling  and  never 
for  a  moment  forgot  that  he  came  from  a  State  where  the  ne 
gro  was  a  slave  and  where  the  rice-plant  grew  to  perfection. 
Grout  had  been  sent  by  the  Shayites  of  Massachusetts.  But 


568  THE   FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

little  as  he  liked  the  new  plan,  lie  too  forgot,  when  he  voted, 
that  he  was  an  Antifederalist,  and  remembered  only  that  he 
was  from  the  greatest,  the  most  prosperous  of  New  England 
States. 

The  Houses  met,  however,  in  good  spirit,  and  the  speech 
made  by  the  President  at  the  opening  of  the  session  was  cor 
dially  received.  He  congratulated  them  on  the  concord,  peace, 
and  plenty  which  blessed  the  land.  He  spoke  with  much 
pleasure  of  the  increasing  good-will  toward  the  Government, 
and  of  the  ratification  of  the  Constitution  by  North  Carolina. 
But  he  reminded  them  at  the  same  time  that  some  matters  of 
great  weight  demanded  speedy  and  earnest  attention.  The 
frontier  was  to  be  defended ;  intercourse  with  foreign  nations 
was  to  be  facilitated  ;  commerce  and  manufactures  wisely  en 
couraged  ;  post-offices  and  post-roads  multiplied  and  extended. 
He  had  seen,  he  said,  with  peculiar  pleasure,  the  resolution  of 
the  Houses  to  provide  for  the  support  of  public  credit ;  it  was 
of  the  highest  importance  to  the  national  honor,  and  he  had 
bidden  the  proper  officers  to  lay  before  them  such  papers  and 
estimates  as  would  give  exact  information  on  the  state  of  the 
Union. 

The  next  day  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  asked  leave  to 
bring  in  his  plan  for  the  payment  of  the  debt.  Leave  was 
granted,  and  Thursday  of  the  following  week  was  set  down  as 
the  day  whereon  the  House  would  hear  it,  and  he  was  told  to 
put  what  he  had  to  say  in  writing. 

"When  the  time  came,  the  members  listened  in  profound 
silence.  The  debts,  they  were  told,  were  of  three  kinds :  the 
foreign  debt,  amounting  to  eleven  million  seven  hundred  and 
ten  thousand  three  hundred  and  seventy-eight  dollars,  the  do 
mestic  debt  of  forty-two  million  four  hundred  and  fourteen 
thousand  and  eighty-five  dollars,  and  the  State  debts.*  Pre 
cisely  how  much  was  owed  by  the  States  could  not,  the  Sec 
retary  said,  be  ascertained  to  a  dollar,  but  it  would  not  be  far 
from  twenty-one  millions,  and  this  he  proposed  should  be  as 
sumed.  The  money  had  been  spent  in  the  common  cause. 
It  was  part  of  the  price  of  freedom.  No  more  dollars  would 
be  required  to  pay  it  if  assumed  by  the  Government  than  if 

*  American  State  Papers.     Finance,  vol.  i,  p.  22. 


1790.      HAMILTON'S  PLAN  FOR  FUNDING  THE  DEBT.       569 

left  with  the  States,  and  it  could  be  much  more  easily  collected 
and  much  more  easily  disbursed  at  one  national  Treasury  than 
at  twelve  different  State  treasuries.  Assumption  was  there 
fore  clearly  the  policy  of  the  Government.  If  this  were  done, 
the  total  indebtedness  would  not  fall  far  short  of  seventy-five 
millions  of  dollars,  and  the  annual  interest  would  in  round 
numbers  be  four  and  a  half  millions.  A  tax  of  a  dollar  and 
two  bits  a  head  on  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  country 
was  a  burden,  the  Secretary  thought,  too  great  to  be  borne  ; 
so  he  proposed  a  plan  for  raising  the  interest  which  seemed 
to  his  mind  far  less  odious  than  a  direct  and  crushing  tax. 

Every  dollar  of  the  forty-three  millions  w^hich  made  up  the 
domestic  debt  would  draw  six  cents  from  the  Treasury  as  inter 
est.  But  the  debt  was  redeemable  at  pleasure.  "When,  accord 
ingly,  the  Government  found  itself  able  to  borrow  money  at 
five  per  cent  or  four  per  cent,  principles  of  sound  economy 
would  force  it  to  do  so,  and  with  the  funds  so  raised  pay  off 
the  debt  drawing  six  per  cent.  It  was  more  than  likely  that 
at  the  end  of  five  years  the  price  of  money  would  be  down  to 
five  per  cent,  and  that  it  would  go  on  falling  till,  at  the  end 
of  fifteen  years,  it  would  be  down  to  four  per  cent.  The  public 
creditor  would  therefore  in  five  years,  and  again  in  fifteen 
years,  be  forced  either  to  submit  to  a  lowering  of  the  rate  of 
interest,  or  take  back  all  his  money  invested  in  the  certificates. 
With  this  certainty  hanging  over  him,  the  public  creditor 
might,  the  Secretary  thought,  be  easily  induced  to  accept  an 
assurance  of  six  per  cent  for  a  certain  number  of  years  as  an 
equivalent  for  a  reduction  of  the  principal,  or  for  a  postpone 
ment  of  the  interest  on  a  part  of  it.  Thus  cut  down,  the  inter 
est  might  easily  be  paid  from  moneys  collected  from  duties  on 
wine,  spirits,  teas,  coffees,  and  an  excise. 

To  carry  out  the  plan  it  would  be  merely  necessary  to  open 
a  new  loan,  take  the  old  certificates  and  evidences  of  indebted 
ness  in  payment  of  the  subscriptions,  and  fix  upon  some  plan 
for  the  distribution  of  the  stock.  Hamilton  suggested  three. 
One  was  to  give  in  exchange  for  each  one  hundred  dollars  of 
the  debt  brought  to  the  Treasury  sixty-six  and  two  thirds  dollars 
of  the  new  funds,  bearing  six  per  cent  interest,  and  thirty-three 
and  one  third  dollars  in  western  lands  at  twenty  cents  an  acre. 


570  THE   FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

If,  however,  the  creditor  would  not  take  land,  he  was  to  be 
allowed  to  convert  the  third  of  his  claim  into  stock,  receiving 
twenty-six  dollars  and  eighty-eight  cents  in  the  funds  for  every 
one  hundred  of  the  claim.  This  was  to  bear  no  interest  till 
1800  ;  and  after  that  time  six  per  cent. 

But  some  men  were  hard  to  please,  and  as  they  might  be 
disposed  to  grumble  at  even  so  liberal  an  offer,  they  were  to  be  at 
liberty  to  choose  from  three  other  plans.  They  might  subscribe 
to  a  four  per  cent  stock,  and  receive  as  compensation  for  the 
low  rate  of  interest  fifteen  dollars  and  eighty  cents  in  land  for 
each  one  hundred  dollars  paid  in.  Or  they  might  take  out 
annuities  for  life,  bearing  four  per  cent  interest,  and  contin 
gent  on  fixing  a  given  age  not  less  distant  than  ten  years.  Or 
they  might  purchase  annuities  for  life,  contingent  on  the  sur 
vivorship  of  the  younger  of  two  lives. 

c  v*  •  In  this  form  the  report  was  read  to  the  House  early  in 
February.  The  day  had  been  especially  set  apart  for  its  con 
sideration,  the  news  had  gone  abroad,  and  when  the  time  came 
the  seats  in  the  gallery  of  the  House  were  filled  with  stran 
gers.  Little  was  said.  But  when  the  reading  was  ended,  and 
it  was  known  to  the  merchants  and  shopkeepers  who  crowded 
the  gallery  that  the  paper  they  had  long  looked  on  as  worth 
less,  and  which  they  would  at  any  time  for  three  years  past 
have  gladly  disposed  of  at  three  shillings  in  the  pound,  was  in 
all  probability  soon  to  be  funded  dollar  for  dollar,  they  be 
came  eager  to  possess  more  of  it.  Indeed,  before  noon  the 
following  day  the  market  price  of  certificates  went  up  fifty 
per  cent.  Prudent  men,  who  could  see  nothing  in  the  action 
of  Congress  to  warrant  a  hope  of  assumption,  were  at  a  loss  te 
account  for  so  sudden  a  rise  in  value.  But  it  soon  appeared 
that  the  speculators  were  at  work,  that  their  agents  were  has 
tening  through  every  back-country  village  and  town  buying  cer 
tificates  and  final  settlements  from  the  farmers  for  a  song,  and 
that  some  had  gone  on  a  swift-sailing  vessel,  under  a  press  of 
canvas,  to  Charleston,  to  purchase  certificates  from  the  planters 
before  the  news  of  the  proposed  funding  reached  the  South.* 

*  "  The  people  in  this  city  are  informed  of  all  the  motions  of  Government ; 
they  have  sent  out  their  money,  in  swift-sailing  vessels,  to  purchase  up  the  prop 
erty  of  uninformed  citizens  in  the  remote  parts  of  the  Union."  Speech  of  Jack- 


1790.  AKGUMENTS  AGAINST  FUNDING.  571 

One  of  the  partners  in  this  last  venture,  Smith,  of  South 
Carolina,  brought  the  plan  of  the  Secretary  formally  before  the 
House.  It  was  on  Monday,  the  eighth  of  February,  when  the 
House  had  gone  into  a  committee  of  the  whole,  that  he  rose 
and  moved  four  resolutions.  The  first  declared  that  Congress 
should  not  adjourn  till  ample  provision  had  been  made  for  the 
payment  of  the  public  debt.  Another  asserted  that  no  dis 
crimination  was  to  be  made  between  the  original  holders  of 
certificates  and  their  assignees.  A  third  set  forth  that  the 
State  debts  should  be  assumed ;  the  fourth  that  the  arrearage 
of  interest  on  State  as  well  as  continental  debts  ought  to  be 
funded.  The  first  resolution  passed  without  debate.  But  the 
others  were  made  the  subject  of  a  fierce  dispute,  which  was 
prolonged  till  the  summer  was  far  spent,  grew  more  and  more 
rancorous  day  by  day,  broke  up  the  course  of  business  in  the 
House,  spread  thence  to  the  people,  provoked  an  amount  of 
sectional  animosity  that  finally  laid  the  foundations  of  two  par 
ties,  and  made  the  words  "  funding  "  and  "  assumption  "  hate 
ful  to  the  ears  of  the  whole  nation. 

The  enemies  of  funding  and  assumption,  and  they  were  to 
be  found  in  greatest  numbers  south  of  the  Pennsylvania  line,  ar 
gued  in  this  way  :  Funding,  wherever  found,  is  ruinous  to  the 
welfare  of  states.  The  first  funding  system  of  which  history 
makes  any  mention  sprang  up  at  Florence  in  1634.  That  mag 
nificent  republic,  into  whose  coffers  had  once  poured  untold 
treasures  from  the  East,  owed  the  paltry  sum  of  sixty  thousand 
pounds.  She  was  unable  to  pay  it,  and  in  an  evil  hour  turned 
it  into  a  funded  debt.  From  that  instant  her  prosperity  went 
down.  Her  trade  fell  off.  Her  credit  vanished,  and  the 
splendid  argosies  that  once  crowded  her  quays  and  canals  were 
scattered  to  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe.  Genoa  and  Yen- 
ice  came  next.  They  took  up  a  like  policy,  and  where  is  now 
their  ancient  splendor?  Spain,  in  a  day  of  trouble,  learned 

son,  of  Georgia,  in  Congress,  February  9,  1790.  Benton's  Abridgment  of  the 
Debates  of  Congress,  vol.  i,  p.  198,  ed.  1857.  Jefferson,  in  his  Anas,  says  con 
cerning  this:  "  Couriers  and  relay-horses  by  land,  and  swift-sailing  pilot-boats  by 
sea,  were  flying  in  all  directions.  Active  partners  and  agents  were  associated  and 
employed  in  every  State,  town,  and  county,  and  the  paper  bought  up  at  five  shil 
lings,  and  even  as  low  as  two  shillings  in  the  pound,  before  the  holder  knew  that 
Congress  had  already  provided  for  its  redemption  at  par." 


572  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

the  practice,  but  heeded  not  the  warning  of  the  Italian  repub 
lics.  She,  too,  anticipated  her  revenues,  funded  her  debt,  and 
sank  in  consequence  far  below  the  level  of  states  that  were 
once  her  colonies.  Then  the  contagion  spread  to  France,  and 
she  now  languishes  under  a  terrible  load  of  debt.  But  the 
most  striking  example  of  the  ills  of  a  funding  system  is  Eng 
land.  When  William  of  Orange  was  on  the  throne  she  laid 
the  foundation  of  her  national  debt.  The  sum,  five  millions 
of  pounds  sterling,  put  into  the  funds,  was  indeed  small.  But 
it  was  the  germ  of  a  frightful  malady,  and  the  patient  has 
ever  since  been  going  from  bad  to  worse.  In  1711  the  debt 
had  grown  to  nine  millions  of  pounds.  When  Burgoyne  sur 
rendered,  it  was  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  millions.  It  is  now 
above  two  hundred  and  thirty  millions.  The  most  sanguine 
man  can  surely  never  expect  to  see  this  burden  lifted.  Should 
she  become  involved  yet  more,  the  consequences  will  be  fear 
ful  to  contemplate.  She  will  either  become  bankrupt,  or  cease 
to  be  an  independent  nation.  God  forbid  that,  with  so  long  a 
line  of  signal  warnings  before  us,  we  should  ever  fund  our 
debt.  For  a  moment  it  will  indeed  increase  our  scanty  circu 
lation  and  raise  up  our  fallen  credit.  But  it  will  be  for  a  mo 
ment,  and  a  moment  only.  The  evil  practice  will  surely  be 
followed,  and  in  a  century  the  debt  which  is  now  but  a  few 
millions  will  be  expressed  by  figures  it  makes  our  blood  run 
cold  to  think  of.* 

It  is  well  to  consider  how  much  of  truth  and  how  much  of 
error  this  prophecy  contained. 

The  funded  debt  of  the  United  States  amounted,  on  the 
first  of  January,  1791,  to  seventy-five  million  four  hundred 
and  sixty-three  thousand  four  hundred  and  seventy-six  dollars. 
From  that  day  it  steadily  grew  in  size  till  the  first  of  January, 
1804,  when  it  summed  up  eighty-six  million  four  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  thousand  one  hundred  and  twenty  dollars.  Then 
a  decline  began.  In  1812  it  had  fallen  to  forty-five  millions. 
In  1835  it  was  paid  off.  The  next  year  the  -Government  was 
in  possession  of  a  surplus  revenue  of  forty  millions  of  dollars, 

*  These  arguments  are  to  be  found  in  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House,  Febru 
ary  9,  1790,  by  James  Jackson,  of  Georgia.  See  Benton's  Abridgment  of  the 
Debates  of  Congress,  vol.  i,  pp.  191,  192,  ed.  1857. 


1790.         DEBATES   ON  FUNDING  AND  ASSUMPTION.          573 

which  produced  far  more  evil  than  the  greatest  debt  the  coun 
try  has  ever  borne.  It  was  divided  among  the  States.  In 
stantly  the  wildest  extravagance  began.  Turnpikes  and  ca 
nals,  banks  and  public  improvements,  sprang  up  in  every 
State.  The  creation  of  the  Banks  of  Issue  is  without  a  par 
allel  in  history.  They  wrere  to  be  found  in  every  town, 
in  every  village,  in  every  hamlet  throughout  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  land.  A  story  is  extant  of  a  messenger 
with  notes  to  collect,  who  traced  a  bank  far  beyond  the  lim 
its  of  civilization  to  a  spot  on  the  prairies  where  a  smithy 
and  a  single  cabin  wTere  alone  to  be  seen.  The  blacksmith 
was  the  cashier,  the  smithy  was  the  bank,  and  the  safe  a 
barrel  in  a  corner  of  the  shed.  The  messenger  relates  that 
when  the  notes  were  offered,  the  blacksmith  went  to  the 
barrel,  took  out  first  a  layer  of  apples,  then  a  layer  of  vege 
tables,  and  finally  the  bags  of  gold,  from  which  he  told  out 
the  coin  and  redeemed  the  bills,  saying  as  he  took  them  that 
the  messenger  wTas  the  first  man  who  had  found  out  the  bank. 
States  that  had  loaned  their  credit  to  such  banks  soon  be 
came  insolvent.  The  extravagance  caused  by  the  few  mill 
ions  loaned  by  the  Government  brought  enormous  debts. 
Some  repudiated  ;  some  suspended  ;  some  cried  out  for  a  new 
assumption  bill.  The  appeal  was  most  wisely  withstood.  But 
a  new  debt  had  in  the  meanwhile  been  growing.  When  the 
Mexican  Avar  ended,  this  was  sixty-three  millions  of  dollars. 
The  Texan  Indemnity  of  1850  added  five  millions  more.  In 
1851  it  was  sixty-eight  million  three  hundred  and  four  thou 
sand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-six  dollars.  Then  a  decrease 
began  and  went  steadily  on  till  1857,  when  the  bonded  debt 
of  the  Government  was  twenty-eight  million  six  hundred  and 
ninety-nine  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-one  dollars. 
When  Sumter  was  fired  on  it  was  ninety  million  five  hundred 
and  eighty  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-three  dollars. 
The  civil  war  raised  this  to  two  billion  eight  hundred  and 
forty-four  million  six  hundred  and  forty-nine  thousand  six 
hundred  and  twenty-six  dollars,  the  largest  sum  our  country 
has  ever  owed.*  Thus,  in  the  space  of  seventy-five  years,  the 
debt  which  the  Antifederalists  declared  would  ruin  the  coun- 


*  These  figures  were  reached  on  August  1,  1865. 


574  THE  FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

try  if  funded,  was  paid  off,  and  a  new  one,  thirty -seven  times 
as  great,  created  and  borne  with  perfect  ease. 

But,  the  enemies  of  funding  w"ent  on  to  argue,  even  if 
funding  were  a  good  thing,  the  system  proposed  by  the  Secre 
tary  is  a  bad  one.  It  makes  no  distinction  between  the  debt 
due  abroad  and  the  debt  due  at  home.  The  one  is  not  like  a 
debt.  The  other  has  all  the  true  qualities  of  a  debt.  The 
one  was  loaned  the  United  States  in  real  coin,  at  low  interest, 
by  generous  men  living  beyond  the  sea,  and  deriving  no  bene 
fit  from  the  blessed  results  of  the  war.  This  is  a  true  debt. 
The  other  has  been  rapidly  growing  at  six  per  cent  on  money 
loaned  on  depreciated  paper,  or  paid  for  services  rendered  at 
exorbitant  rates,  or  for  provisions  supplied  at  three  times  their 
real  value,  by  men  who  are  now  enjoying  all  the  blessings 
brought  by  the  war.  Every  member  in  this  House  knows 
that  much  of  our  domestic  loan-office  debt  arose  in  this  way. 
Every -member  knows  that  loan-office  certificates  were  issued 
as  a  kind  of  circulating  medium  when,  in  a  day  of  trial,  Con 
gress  was  put  to  such  straits  for  cash  that  it  could  raise  the 
money  in  no  other  way.  Every  member  knows  that  every 
farmer  who  hauled  wood,  or  sold  provisions,  or  disposed  of  his 
horses  or  his  beeves  for  this  kind  of  money,  raised  his  prices 
from  six  to  ten  shillings  at  least.  Is  this  debt  to  be  placed  on 
the  same  footing  as  the  foreign  debt,  for  which  we  had  a  hard 
dollar  for  every  dollar  we  agreed  to  pay  ?  Let  the  continental 
and  the  State  debts  be  assumed  and  paid  shilling  for  shilling, 
and  the  home  creditor  becomes  at  once  the  most  favored  of 
men.  He  will  have  kept  his  property  safe  and  sound  through 
the  chaos  of  seven  years  of  war.  For  every  hundred  dollars 
loaned  he  is  now  to  get  back  a  hundred  and  sixty  dollars,  and 
this,  put  into  the  funds  at  four  per  cent,  will  yield  him 'a  profit 
compared  to  which  the  gains  of  farming  or  of  trade  are  pal 
try.  Where  is  the  land,  improved  or  unimproved,  that  will 
yield  such  returns  ?  What  merchant  can  say,  with  absolute 
certainty,  at  the  opening  of  a  year,  that  his  gains  will,  at  the 
close  of  the  year,  be  four  per  cent  of  the  money  invested  in 
his  trade  ?  Men  who  held  real  estate  before  the  revolution 
have,  between  taxes  and  losses,  sunk  half  of  it.  But  the  patri 
ots  who,  when  the  nation  was  hard  pressed,  went  in  crowds  to 


1790.         DEBATES   ON  FUNDING  AND  ASSUMPTION. 

the  loan  offices  and  put  in  their  worthless  paper,  or  sold  their 
tons  of  hay  and  bushels  of  potatoes  at  three  times  the  market 
price,  are  now  to  have  it  all  back  again  safe  and  much  in 
creased,  and  be  given,  moreover,  a  fine  investment  for  the  fu 
ture.  This  property  intrusted  to  the  Government  has,  it  is 
true,  slept,  some  for  ten  and  some  for  twelve  years.  But  it 
has  now  waked  up  to  some  purpose.  Before  funding  the  cer 
tificates  and  final  settlements  it  would  be  wise,  therefore,  to  de 
termine  their  true  value.  To  say  the  face  value  of  such  se 
curities  is  the  true  value  and  the  one  to  be  paid  is  to  talk 
nonsense.  Look  back  on  the  time  the  contracts  were  made. 
At  the  close  of  the  war,  at  the  beginning  of  the  issue  of  final 
settlements,  there  was  a  claim  against  the  Government  for  ser 
vices  really  rendered.  The  soldiers  were  the  claimants.  They 
came  forward  and  made  their  demands.  But  Congress  had  no 
money.  What,  then,  did  it  do  ?  It  offered  them  certificates  of 
a  certain  nominal  value  ;  nay,  more,  of  a  certain  known  value. 
Twenty  shillings  was  the  nominal  value.  Two  shillings  and 
sixpence  was  the  real  value.  Did  the  soldier  accept  the  offer  ? 
He  did.  On  what  motive  did  he  accept  it  ?  Patriotism.  He 
knew  as  well  as  he  knew  anything  that  he  was  putting  the 
capstone  on  the  building  he  had  erected  by  his  labor  and  ce 
mented  with  his  blood.  "  I  have,"  said  he,  "  done  great  things 
for  you.  You  owe  me  twenty  shillings.  But  you  are  poor. 
You  cannot  pay  me.  I  will  take  your  two-and-sixpence, 
therefore,  and  give  you  a  discharge."  No  man  of  candor  can 
for  a  moment  maintain  that  the  soldier  who  took,  or  the  officer 
who  paid  out  the  settlement  ever  believed  it  to  be  worth  one 
penny  more  than  two-and-sixpence  in  the  pound.  The  whole 
transaction  was  compounding  a  debt,  and  the  sum  Congress 
ought  to  pay  on  the  final  settlements  is  two-and-six. 

Gentlemen  cry  out  at  this.  They  will  have  it  that  the  cer 
tificate  is  a  private  contract ;  that  to  declare  it  to  have  a  value 
other  than  the  one  carried  on  its  face  is  to  alter  a  private  con 
tract,  an  act  Congress  has  no  right  to  do.  These  amiable  gen 
tlemen  are  mistaken.  The  House  is  not  a  contractor,  but  a 
judge,  an  arbitrator.  The  case  is  simply  this.  One  part  of 
the  community  has  a  demand  on  another  part.  This  House 
is  applied  to  by  the  creditor  part  to  recover  it.  The  debtor 


576  THE   FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

part  makes  answer  that  the  demand  is  excessive.  Congress  is 
simply  to  decide  what  is  justly  due;  And  what  is  justly  due  ? 
The  face  value  ?  No.  Congress,  it  is  indeed  true,  acknowl 
edged  the  face  value  of  the  bills  to  be  the  real  one ;  but  this 
was  done  out  of  necessity,  out  of  policy,  lest  the  settlements 
should  depreciate  till  they  were  as  worthless  as  the  old  red 
money.  Money  loaned  under  such  circumstances  could  not 
surely  be  said  to  be  lent  in  a  patriotic  spirit.  It  was  a  specu 
lation  in  public  funds.  Some  sanguine  men  had  hoped,  by  put 
ting  paper  money  worth  scarce  anything  into  the  loan  office,  to 
get  back  hard  money  by  and  by.  Where  is  the  hardship,  the 
injustice  of  giving  them  back  just  what  they  loaned,  with  in 
terest  ?  Is  Congress  bound  to  pay  them  what  they  expected 
to  get  ?  They  took  advantage  of  the  necessities  of  the  nation, 
and  if  they  never  receive  a  farthing,  they  are  still  well  paid. 
Have  they  not  liberty  for  tyranny  ? 

It  must  be  remembered,  too,  that  much  of  the  debt  is 
owned  by  these  speculators.  Many  of  the  original  holders  of 
the  settlements  and  certificates  have  parted  with  them.  Here, 
then,  is  an  additional  reason  for  discrimination.  The  present 
holders,  supposing  the  debt  is  funded,  are  not  to  be  placed  on 
the  same  footing  as  the  original  holders.  They  had  no  claim. 
They  were  under  no  necessity  to  take  a  single  settlement. 
They  went  of  their  own  will  to  the  soldiers  and  farmers  and 
bought  the  certificates.  Why  were  the  purchases  made  ?  To 
relieve  the  pressing  wants  of  disabled  heroes  ?  No.  To  help 
a  poverty-stricken  country  pay  her  debts  ?  No.  To  put  money 
into  the  pockets  of  men  who  had  never  smelled  the  smoke  of 
battle,  or  rendered  the  first  service  to  the  land. 

These  arguments  were  at  length  put  into  the  form  of  a 
motion,  which  Madison,  with  a  long  speech,  introduced  to  the 
House.  He  moved  to  discriminate  between  the  original  cred 
itors  and  the  present  holders  of  settlements  and  certificates. 
The  former  he  proposed  to  pay  in  full ;  but  where  a  claim  had 
been  assigned,  the  assignee  should  receive  the  highest  market 
value,  and  the  original  holder  whatever  remained  over. 

To  this  it  was  answered  that  the  plan  was  wicked  and  im 
politic.  It  consists,  said  the  Federalists,  of  two  parts.  First, 
to  take  away  the  property  of  one  man  by  a  mere  act  of  power. 


1790.  DISCRIMINATION   OPPOSED.  577 

and  then  reinvest  it  in  another  man  who  has  lawfully  disposed 
of  it  for  a  price.  The  buyer  of  a  certificate  has,  by  fair  pur 
chase,  acquired  a  right  to  the  full  amount  expressed  in  the 
certificate,  which  this  House  cannot  stop  him  of.  There  is 
not  a  tribunal  on  the  face  of  the  earth  that  can  do  it.  If  A 
gives  a  bond  to  B,  and  B  parts  with  the  paper  to  C,  there  is 
no  longer  any  obligation  on  the  part  of  A  to  pay  B ;  but  he 
must  pay  C.  He  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  private  negotia 
tions  of  B,  nor  to  inquire  what  sum  of  money  was  given  for 
the  bond.  He  cannot  say  to  the  holder,  You  gave  but  fifty 
dollars  for  a  hundred-dollar  security,  therefore  I  will  pay  you 
but  fifty  dollars.  The  law  will  compel  him  to  pay  the  hun 
dred.  The  plan  is  so  wicked  and  unjust  that  the  very  sol 
diers,  in  whose  behalf  it  is  devised,  will  refuse  with  scorn  to 
profit  by  it.  Suppose  I  buy  a  settlement  and  go  to  the  Treas 
ury  to  fund  it.  The  Treasurer  would  say  to  me,  You  are  to 
receive  but  fifty  dollars ;  the  other  fifty  is  to  go  to  the  man 
you  bought  this  of.  Now,  if  I  go  and  tell  the  officer  or  the 
private  I  bought  of,  that,  notwithstanding  my  purchase  of  his 
whole  right,  I  am  to  get  but  half  of  it,  what  will  he  say  ? 
He  will  say,  "  Sir,  I  will  never  touch  a  farthing  of  the  money ; 
it  is  yours."  This  is  no  ideal  sketch.  Have  not  the  Society 
of  the  Cincinnati  of  the  State  of  New  York,  by  a  resolution, 
disavowed  the  principle  ?  Was  not  a  member  expelled  from 
the  society  in  Rhode  Island  for  using  the  tender  law  to  pay  a 
just  debt  in  depreciated  paper  ?  * 

To  this  it  was  said  sneeringly  that  it  was  hard  to  understand 
why  the  same  gentlemen  who  were  afraid  to  give  the  soldier  a 
part  of  his  original  claim,  lest  they  should  offend  his  nobleness 
of  soul,  made  no  scruples  of  offering  the  speculator  ten  times 
the  sum  he  was  entitled  to.  Were  they  sure  his  honor  would 
not  receive  a  wound  ?  The  answer  was  that  the  question  was 
not  a  question  of  feeling,  but  of  right  and  wrong.  The  Gov 
ernment  owed  a  debt.  There  were  two  ways  of  settling  it : 
to  pay  it  outright  in  hard  money,  or  to  fund  it.  To  discharge 
it  in  coin  would  require  upward  of  eighty  millions  of  dollars 
ready  money.  This  could  not  be  had.  To  fund  it,  therefore, 

*  Joseph  Arnold,  of  Warwick,  expelled  at  the  meeting  July  4,  1789.     See 
account  in  Freeman's  Journal,  July  22,  1789. 
VOL.  i. — 38 


578  THE   FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

followed  as  naturally  as  shadow  follows  substance.  But 
how  fund  it  ?  The  Secretary  has  pointed  out  several  ways. 
The  gentlemen  of  the  opposite  side  of  the  House  have 
struck  on  a  way  of  their  own.  They  wish  the  interest  cut 
down  and  the  certificates  funded  by  paying  part  to  the 
holder  and  part  to  the  original  possessor.  This  is  an  inter 
ference  in  contracts.  No  matter  what  the  Government  may 
have  received  for  the  settlements,  two  shillings  or  three 
shillings,  ten  shillings  or  twenty  shillings  in  the  pound,  they 
are  contracts  by  which  the  Government  is  bound  to  pay  any 
lawful  holder  the  face  value.  As  a  party,  Congress  cannot 
alter  the  contract  in  the  least.  If  the  original  holder  has,  by 
disposing  of  his  claim,  made  a  bad  bargain,  that  is  his  busi 
ness,  and  not  ours.* 

These  arguments  had  so  much  effect  that,  when  a  vote  was 
taken  on  the  motion,  but  thirteen  rose  on  the  affirmative  in  a 
House  of  forty-nine.  With  this  vote  all  thought  of  funding 
and  assumption  was  for  a  while  laid  aside.  The  House  had 
found  a  newr  subject.  The  Quakers,  at  their  yearly  meeting  at 
Philadelphia,  had  drawn  up  a  civil  memorial  to  Congress, 
praying  for  the  abolition  of  slavery.  It  was  presented  on  the 
eleventh  of  February,  read  and  committed  the  next  day,  and 
on  March  seventeenth  taken  up  for  debate.  The  discussion  had 
not  gone  far  before  it  surpassed  in  bitterness  and  vulgarity 
anything  the  House  had  yet  listened  to.  Smith,  of  South  Caro- 
lina,  and  Jackson,  of  Georgia,  could  not  contain  their  wrath, 
and  when  arguments  failed  them,  fell  to  abusing  the  Quakers, 
their  religion,  their  morals,  and  their  memorial.  The  Quakers 
were  denounced  as  enemies  of  freedom,  as  spies  during  the 
late  war,  and  the  guides  and  conductors  of  the  British  armies ; 
the  names  of  the  signers  of  the  memorial  were  called  over,  their 
characters  blackened,  and  anecdotes  relating  to  them  told  upon 
the  floor  of  the  House.  Even  Franklin,  who,  then  upon  his 
death-bed,  had  put  his  name  to  the  foot  of  one  of  the  petitions, 

*  On  the  subject  of  funding,  see  a  pamphlet  called  Fallacy  Detected  by  the 
Evidence  of  Facts  ;  or,  Considerations  on  the  Impolicy  and  Injustice  of  a  Com 
pulsory  Reduction  of  the  Interest  on  the  Public  Debt,  in  a  letter  to  a  member  of 
Congress,  1790 ;  also,  Considerations  on  the  Nature  of  a  Funded  Debt.  New  York, 
1791. 


1790.  THE    QUAKER   MEMORIAL   ON  SLAVERY.  579 

did  not  escape.*  A  member  who  listened  with  disgust  to  the 
six  days'  contest  has  well  described  the  violence,  the  personality, 
the  low  wit,  the  rambling  from  the  point  which  marked  that 
strange  debate.  "  The  Quakers,"  writes  he  to  his  friend  at  Bos 
ton,  "  have  been  abused,  the  eastern  States  inveighed  against, 
the  chairman  rudely  charged  with  partiality.  Language  low, 
indecent,  and  profane  has  been  used;  wit  equally  stale  and 
wretched  has  been  attempted ;  in  short,  we  have  sunk  below 
the  General  Court  in  the  disorderly  moment  of  a  brawling 
nomination  of  a  committee,  or  even  of  a  country  town-meet 
ing."  f  The  answer  to  the  memorial  was  in  seven  paragraphs ; 
but  the  gist  of  it  was  contained  in  one  short  sentence.  "  Con 
gress,"  said  the  report  of  the  House  committee,  ahave  no 
authority  to  interfere  in  the  emancipation  of  slaves,  or  in  the 
treatment  of  them  within  any  of  the  States."  The  vote  was 
twenty-nine  to  twenty-five. 

From  this  wrangle  the  House  came  back  in  no  good  tem 
per  to  the  funding  and  assumption  bills.  The  funding  bill, 
though  not  much  liked,  commanded  a  majority ;  but  assump 
tion  was  held  to  be  a  matter  as  purely  sectional  as  the  seat  of 
Government  or  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves.  New  Eng 
land  and  the  middle  States,  except  Pennsylvania,  were  for  the 
measure.  The  southern  States  were  against  the  measure. 

The  Federalists  were  able,  however,  after  a  three-weeks' 
discussion,  to  muster  votes  enough  to  force  the  committee,  by 
a  majority  of  five,  to  report  to  the  House,  among  other  reso 
lutions,  one  in  favor  of  assumption.  This  was  on  the  thir 
teenth  of  March.  On  the  twenty-ninth  the  resolution  was 
taken  up.  Meanwhile,  several  representatives  from  North 
Carolina,  every  one  of  them  bitterly  opposed  to  assumption, 
came  in.  The  moment,  therefore,  the  resolution  was  read,  a 
motion  to  recommit  was  made,  and  carried  by  a  vote  of  twenty- 
nine  to  twenty-seven.  The  Assumptionists,  in  great  anger, 
retaliated  by  recommitting  the  funding  resolution.  More  dis- 

*  The  mildest  part  of  these  debates  may  be  found  in  Ecnton's  Abridgment. 
But  the  original  journal  must  be  read  to  form  a  just  conception  of  the  depths  to 
which  the  House  descended. 

f  Fisher  Ames  to  G.  R.  Minot,  March  23,  1790.  Works  of  Fisher  Ames,  ed 
1854,  p.  75. 


580  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

cussion  followed,  till  at  last,  on  the  twelfth  of  April,  the  reso 
lution  to  assume  was  thrown  out  in  committee  by  a  strict  party 
vote.  Twenty-nine  stood  up  on  the  affirmative,  thirty-one  on 
the  negative. 

The  Antiassumptionists  were  triumphant.  The  Federalists 
were  more  determined  than  ever,  and  began  to  talk  in  a  way 
that  gave  much  alarm  to  the  more  cool-headed  members  from 
the  South.  They  openly  declared  their  intention  to  bring  in 
a  bill  to  assume,  said  they  would  surely  oppose  every  measure 
looking  toward  funding  till  the ,  assumption  bill  was  passed, 
and  that  if  it  did  not  pass,  the  consequences  to  the  Union 
would  be  serious  indeed.*  Some  who  heard  them  thought 
this  was  merely  the  language  of  angry  men.  But  when,  two 
days  later,  a  motion  was  made  to  go  into  a  committee  of  the 
whole  for  the  purpose  of  providing  for  the  domestic  debt,  it 
was  warmly  resisted,  and  when,  on  the  second  of  June,  a  bill 
passed  providing  for  the  debts,  Gerry,  true  to  the  words  of  the 
Federalists,  moved  a  bill  to  assume. 

And  now  each  party  began  to  labor  with  redoubled  energy. 
The  Antiassumptionists  hoped  to  win  through  a  bargain  they 
had  just  completed  with  one  of  the  middle  States.  The  As- 
sumptionists  hoped  to  win  by  defeating  the  supply  bill.  But  it 
was  clear  that  everything  depended  on  the  conduct  of  the 
representatives  from  Pennsylvania.  Of  the  twelve  delegations, 
that  alone  was  divided.  Five  of  the  members  were  Assump- 
tionists,  three  were  not.  And  the  two  parties  being  almost 
equal  in  numbers,  this  gave  the  balance  of  power  to  the  Penn- 
sylvanians.  Each  party  accordingly  spared  no  pains  to  secure 
their  votes  for  a  future  day.  The  North  offered  sound  argu 
ments,  and  made  appeals  to  their  good  sense.  But  the  South 
held  out  a  bait  the  greedy  members  from  Philadelphia  could 
not  withstand.  Nothing  was  so  near  their  hearts  as  that  con 
gressmen  and  lobbyists  should  once  more  be  seen  lounging 
about  the  streets  and  sitting  in  the  inns  of  their  great  city. 
The  interest  on  the  national  debt  might  go  unprovided  for,  the 
State  debts  might  remain  unpaid,  the  credit  of  the  nation  might 
fall,  but  come  what  might,  the  patronage  of  Congress  must  be 
drawn  from  New  York  and  distributed  among  the  grog-shops 

*  See  a  letter  from  Madison  to  Monroe,  April  17,  1790. 


1790.  THE   FUNDING  BILL  RESUMED.  581 

and  taverns  of  Philadelphia.  Lilliput  and  the  Wigwam,  Ep- 
ple's  and  the  Fish-House,  must  flourish.  The  moment,  there 
fore,  the  Southern  members  approached  them  on  this  matter, 
they  yielded  and  struck  a  bargain.  It  was  agreed  on  one  side 
that  Congress  should  remove  to  Philadelphia  for  fifteen  years, 
and  then  to  the  banks  of  the  Potomac  forever.  It  was  agreed 
on  the  other  that  the  assumption  bill  should  be  voted  down.* 

When  the  news  of  the  bargain  leaked  out,  the  Federalists 
were  greatly  enraged,  but  they  waited  their  time  and  it  soon 
came.  The  bill  to  remove  to  Philadelphia  had,  in  an  unsus 
pecting  moment,  been  passed  by  the  House,  had  been  rejected 
by  the  Senate,  and  on  the  tenth  of  June  the  motion  was  re 
newed  in  the  House.  But  the  plan  of  the  Pennsylvanians  was 
then  well  known.  Long  speeches  and  motions  were  made  to 
delay  the  vote,  and  finally,  on  the  following  morning,  Phila 
delphia  was  stricken  out  and  Baltimore  put  in  by  a  majority 
of  two.  The  triumph  was  complete,  for,  by  the  rules  of  the 
House,  Philadelphia  could  not  be  again  inserted,  f  The  Penn 
sylvanians  and  their  friends  in  the  Senate,  smarting  under 
their  defeat,  retaliated  by  throwing  out  the  alternatives  from 
the  funding  bill,  offering  the  creditors  simply  four  per  cent, 
and  daring  the  Assumptionists  to  reject.:):  The  taunt  was  a 
bold  one,  for  the  eastern  men  had  for  eight  weeks  past  been 
openly  and  solemnly  declaring  that  they  would  oppose  all  pro 
visions  for  the  public  debt  which  did  not  include  assumption. 
They  were  now  as  good  as  their  word.  The  supply  bill  was 
lost  by  a  vote  of  thirty-five  to  twenty-three. 

The  eastern  men  now  assumed  a  lofty  tone,  demanded  as 
sumption  as  a  right,  and  plainly  told  the  southern  members 
that  if  to  the  insult  of  removing  the  seat  of  Government  to 
the  Potomac  they  added  the  injury  of  rejecting  assumption, 
the  consequences  would  be  most  serious.  Such  language,  and 
the  firm  front  presented  by  those  who  used  it,  gave  great 
alarm  to  some  who  had  steadily  voted  with  the  South.  These 
feuds,  said  they,  must  be  composed.  It  is  hazardous  to  break 
up  in  such  a  temper.  Let  the  matter  rest  till  the  next  session, 

*  Fisher  Ames  to  G.  R.  Minot,  June  23,  1790. 

f  Fisher  Ames  to  Thomas  Dwight,  New  York,  June  11,  1790. 

\  Fisher  Ames  to  G.  R.  Minot,  June  23,  1790. 


582  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

and  then  we  shall  doubtless  assume.*  But  the  New  England 
men  would  hear  nothing  of  a  compromise,  and  threatened 
secession.  At  this  stage  in  the  conflict  Hamilton  came  to 
their  help. 

It  happened  one  day,  when  hard  by  the  President's  house, 
that  he  fell  in  with  Jefferson  who  then  held  the  place  of 
Secretary  of  State.  Hamilton  made  known  to  him,  as  they 
walked  backward  and  forward  before  the  President's  door, 
the  temper  into  which  both  House  and  Senate  had  been 
wrought,  the  disgust  of  the  eastern  States,  and  the  near 
danger  of  secession.  The  matter  was,  he  admitted,  not  con 
nected  with  the  Department  of  State ;  but  in  a  momentous 
crisis  the  members  of  the  administration  ought  to  join  and 
support  measures  approved  by  their  great  chief.  On  the 
present  occasion  Jefferson  could  do  much.  Assumption  had 
been  lost  by  a  small  majority,  and  he  might,  by  an  appeal  to 
the  good  sense  and  cool  judgment  of  his  southern  friends, 
possibly  change  a  couple  of  votes,  remove  all  trouble,  and 
enable  the  public  business  to  go  on  with  smoothness  and  dis 
patch.  Jefferson  pleaded  ignorance.  He  had  been  abroad. 
The  matter  was  new  to  him.  He  did  not  know  its  merits. 
Yet  he  would  be  pleased  to  have  Colonel  Hamilton  dine  with 
him  the  next  day,  meet  a  few  Virginians,  and  discuss  the 
difficulty  calmly  over  Madeira  and  punch.  Hamilton  ac 
cepted.  The  meeting  was  arranged,  and  before  they  quitted 
the  table  a  bargain  was  concluded.  White  and  Lee  bound 
themselves  to  vote  for  assumption.  Hamilton  and  Morris 
undertook  to  carry  through  a  bill  fixing  the  seat  of  Congress 
at  Philadelphia  for  ten  years,  and  after  that  time  permanently 
on  the  Potomac. f  On  the  ninth  of  July  the  agreement  of 
Hamilton  was  punctually  performed.  The  bill  to  remove 
passed  by  a  majority  of  three.  Two  weeks  now  went  by  be 
fore  the  debate  on  assumption  was  resumed.  Meanwhile,  the 

*  "  We  hear  no  more  of  the  injustice  of  assumption ;  at  least  it  is  tacitly  al 
lowed  that  it  will  promote  justice  ;  and  it  is  asked,  Let  it  rest  till  next  session,  and 
then  we  shall  doubtless  assume.  This  looks  like  coming  over.  Besides,  conse 
quences  are  feared.  The  New  England  States  demand  it  as  a  debt  of  justice, 
with  a  tone  so  loud  and  threatening  that  they  fear  the  convulsions  which  would 
probably  ensue."  Fisher  Ames  to  Dwight,  June  27,  1790. 

f  Jefferson's  Anas. 


1790.       THE  POPULAR  COMMENTS  ON  ASSUMPTION.         583 

first  letters-patent  were  issued.  The  petitioner  was  one  Sam 
uel  Hopkins,  and  his  claim  an  improvement  in  the  art  of  mak 
ing  pot  and  pearl  ashes,  an  art  then  largely  practiced  in  many 
of  the  less  populous  States.  That  the  improvement  was  a 
very  ingenious  or  a  very  important  one,  may  well  be  doubted. 
Yet  the  parchment  by  which  Hopkins  secured  the  exclusive 
right  to  his  invention,  after  lying  ninety  years  in  old  trunks 
and  bureau-drawers,  has  become  historical.  It  is  the  first  of 
the  two  hundred  and  sixty-nine  thousand  letters-patent  since 
granted  by  the  Government  * ;  it  bears  the  signatures  of 
Washington,  of  Jefferson,  and  of  Randolph,  and  for  these  rea 
sons  Congress  was  urgently  recommended,  three  years  since, 
to  buy  the  document  for  the  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars,  f 
The  date  of  the  patent  is  July  thirteenth,  1790.  A  week 
later  assumption  came  up  in  the  form  of  a  Senate  amendment 
to  the  funding  bill,  and  was  carried  by  thirty-two  votes  to 
twenty-nine  4 

While  the  fate  of  the  bills  was  yet  uncertain,  the  Packets 
and  Journals  nearest  the  seat  of  Government  had  attacked  or 
defended  the  measure  with  their  usual  virulence.  Poems,* 
serious  and  sportive,  jibes,  taunts,  and  abusive  squibs  came 
out  in  numbers.  ||  But  when  the  assumption  bill  and  the 
residence  bill  passed,  and  the  bargaining  of  the  representa 
tives  became  apparent,  the  Antifederal  scribblers  indulged  in 
all  the  scurrility  and  coarseness  so  characteristic  of  the  politi 
cal  writings  of  the  age.  The  favorite  method  of  attack  was 
under  the  figure  of  Miss  Assumption  and  her  bastard  children 


*  To  December  5,  1882,  the  number  of  patents  issued  was  268,773. 

f  The  recommendation  was  made  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  January  8, 
1880. 

\  "  Yesterday  we  renewed  the  battle  for  the  assumption  ;  rather,  we  began  it 
on  Friday.  Mr.  Jackson  then  made  a  speech,  which  I  will  not  say  was  loud 
enough  for  you  to  hear.  It  disturbed  the  Senate,  however ;  and  to  keep  out  the 
din,  they  put  down  their  windows.  Mr.  Smith  followed  him  an  hour.  Yester 
day  Mr.  Gerry  delivered  himself.  Jackson  rebellowed,  the  motion  by  Jackson 
being  that  the  House  do  disagree  to  the  amendment  of  the  Senate.  Voted  in 
the  negative ;  thirty-two  (not  including  the  Speaker,  who  is  on  our  side)  against 
twenty-nine."  Fisher  Ames  to  Thomas  D wight,  July  25,  1790. 

*  Gazette  of  the  United  States,  April  14,  1790;  August  24,  1790,  and  Febru- 
ary  17,  1790.     New  York  Journal,  August  31,  1790. 

fl  Gazette  of  the  United  States,  April  21,  1790  ;  July  28,  1790. 


584:  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.  OHAP.  vx 

Philadelphia  and  Potowmachus,  and  for  several  months  this 
theme  was  written  on  with,  peculiar  delight.*  Now  it  was 
a  notice  of  Miss  Assumption's  death,  with  a  little  account  of 
her  parentage,  her  fondness  for  cod's-head  and  molasses,  and 
of  the  funeral  oration  delivered  over  the  remains  by  Mr. 
Sedgwick.f  Now  it  was  a  sketch  of  the  life  and  death  of 
Potowmachus,  with  a  suitable  inscription  for  a  memorial-win 
dow  in  a  church  in  some  town  in  the  Old  Dominion.;): 

The  stormy  session  was  now  fast  coming  to  a  close.  It  was 
full  time  that  it  did.  For  from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the 
other  the  mass  of  the  people  were  indignant  at  the  bargain 
ing,  the  wrangling,  the  delays.  After  the  manner  of  angry 
men,  the  contempt  of  the  people  found  expression  in  sarcasms 
and  in  jibes.  It  was  a  matter  of  surprise  to  many,  wrote  an 
offended  New  Englander,  that  the  session  of  Congress  had  been 
protracted  and  nothing  done.  The  reason  was  plain.  The 
members  wTere  paid  by  the  day,  and  the  more  days  the  more 
six  dollars.  Should  Congress  meet  on  the  fourth  of  December, 
1790,  and  prolong  the  sitting  till  the  fourth  of  March,  1791, 
the  representatives  would  receive  three  thousand  five  hun 
dred  and  twenty  dollars  each  for  two  years'  services,  and  have 
been  at  home  seven  months  of  the  twenty-four.  Did  any  one 
suppose  the  House  would  cut  short  the  session  when  money 
was  to  be  acquired  so  easily  ?  Seventeen  or  eighteen  hundred 
dollars  a  year  was  not  to  be  despised.  What  congressman 
could  earn  half  that  sum  at  home  ?  In  future  let  Congress  be 
hired  by  the  job.  For  instance,  for  hearing,  granting,  and 
enacting  Nathaniel  T  wining' s  *  memorial,  the  country  undoubt 
edly  w^ould  gladly  pay  them  two  thousand  dollars.  For  fixing 
the  place  of  residence  of  Congress,  five  thousand  dollars.  But 
for  a  trifling  act,  such  as  funding  the  national  debt,  five  hun- 

*New  York  Journal,  August  31,  1790.  Independent  Gazetteer,  September  11, 
1790.  Gazette  of  the  United  States,  June  2,  1790. 

f  Gazette  of  the  United  States,  June  2,  1790. 

\  Independent  Gazetteer,  September  11,  1790.  New  York  Journal,  August  31, 
1790. 

*  Nathaniel  Twining  was  charged  with  the  transmission  of  mails  from  Charles 
ton  to  Savannah.  This  he  failed  to  do  from  September,  1787,  to  January,  1788, 
and  incurred  a  fine  of  $567.41.  The  fine  was  remitted  July  1,  1790.  New  York 
Journal,  September  21,  1790. 


1790.  ON  THE  REMOVAL  OF  CONGRESS.  585 

dred  dollars  was  a  great  plenty.  The  country  acted  with  Con 
gress  like  a  man  building  a  house  by  day  labor.  The  work 
men  were  lazy,  took  holidays  on  Saturdays,  and  spent  half 
their  time  debating  where  they  should  board,  and  whether  the 
tenders  who  brought  bricks  and  mortar  should  or  should  not 
make  a  low  bow  every  time  they  entered  the  presence  of  a 
mason.* 

"Whether  the  Houses  sat  at  New  York  or  Philadelphia  was 
in  truth  about  as  interesting  as  whether  there  were  rainbows 
before  the  flood,  or  whether  Alexander  the  coppersmith  ever 
compensated  Paul  the  Apostle  for  the  injury  he  did  him. 
Any  fair-minded  man  could  see  at  a  glance  that  Philadelphia 
was  the  place  to  hold  the  sessions.  In  the  lirst  place,  the  word 
meant  Brotherly  Love.  In  the  next  place,  it  was  a  liner  city 
than  New  York,  and  every  one  knew  that  the  elegance  and 
splendor  of  the  town  where  Congress  sat  was  more  to  be  con 
sidered  than  prompt  dispatch  of  business.  In  the  third  place, 
the  theatre  was  always  open  in  Philadelphia,  and  there,  too, 
lived  Bobby  the  Treasurer.  Finally,  Philadelphia  was  nearer 
than  New  York  to  the  ancient  domain  of  Virginia.  Much 
weight  should  be  given  to  this,  for  the  next  stride  was  to  place 
Congress  on  the  banks  of  the  American  Nile  at  Canogo- 
chegue,f  a  spot  apparently  as  much  designated  by  nature  for 
the  capital  of  the  country  as  Kamtchatka  or  Orahieta.  Had 
Congress  been  made  up  of  such  stupid  politicians  as  was 
that  of  1774,  it  might  have  been  content  to  stay  at  New  York 
till  the  trifling  question  of  funding  was  disposed  of,  and  have 
felt  under  some  obligation  to  remain  among  a  people  who  had 
laid  out  fifty  thousand  pounds  to  make  it  comfortable.  All 
this  had  indeed  been  discussed.  It  was  agitated  for  eleven 
days  during  the  last  session,  and  for  eight  days  during  the  one 
about  to  close.  The  Ayes  and  Nays  had  been  taken  fifty  times. 
The  cost  of  debating  had  been  upward  of  twenty  thousand 

*  Connecticut  Journal.  Boston  Gazette.  New  York  Journal,  September  3  and 
7,  1790. 

f  Canogochegue,  or  Conococheague,  is  the  name  of  a  small  stream  that  flows 
into  the  Potomac  from  western  Pennsylvania.  The  word  came  into  common  use, 
and  was  long  used  in  derision  by  the  Federalists  as  the  name  of  the  proposed 
capital  on  the  Potomac.  See,  also,  a  letter  of  Fisher  Ames  to  Thomas  Dwight, 
January  24,  1791,  and  note.  Life  of  Ames,  by  his  son,  ed.  1854,  p.  93. 


586  THE  FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

dollars.  The  cost  of  removal  would  be  forty  thousand  more. 
But  what  of  it  ?  "Were  not  the  finances  flourishing  ?  Were  not 
all  the  creditors  satisfied  ?  Let  Congress  sport  with  forty  or 
fifty  thousand  dollars.*  It  was  natural  for  it  to  wander.  In 
many  respects  it  was  not  unlike  those  predatory  nations  with 
moving  houses,  and  the  creditors  of  the  country  would  surely 
not  fall  out  with  the  name  Political  Tartars.  A  moving  State- 
House  should  be  contrived,  and  the  residentiary  fever  of  the 
Pennsylvanians  cooled  by  giving  them  the  moving  of  the 
Federal  edifice  and  the  sole  contract  for  furnishing  Conastogue 
horses.f  Or  better  yet.  Let  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  con 
fer  with  some  eastern  shipwrights,  and  send  in  plans  for  four 
track-scouts  :  one  for  the  President,  one  for  the  Yice-President 
and  Senate,  one  for  the  House,  and  one  for  the  officers  of  Gov 
ernment.  In  these  they  could  coast  from  New  Hampshire  to 
Georgia,  and  their  maritime  circuits  would  lay  the  foundation 
of  harmony  and  union.  An  occasional  squall  might  now  and 
then  sink  the  trackscouts.  But  so  much  the  better,  for  an 
entire  change  of  men  would  follow.  There  was,  however,  one 
objection.  The  trackscout  business  would  soon  become  a 
local  scheme  between  the  eastern  States  and  the  State  of 
North  Carolina.  New  England  would  supply  carpenters  and 
timber,  North  Carolina  would  find  the  pitch  and  tar.  J  On 
another  occasion  an  advertisement  in  large  letters  announced 
that  good  calkers  would  be  paid  six  dollars  a  day  to  calk  and 
repair  the  ship  Congress,  R.  M.  master.*  The  timbers  of  her 
bottom  had  never  been  properly  squared  ;  the  planks  were  of 
green  stuff,  and  it  was  proposed  to  give  her  a  thorough  over 
hauling  before  the  great  and  important  voyage  to  Philadelphia.  [ 

*  New  York  Journal,  July  27,  1790.  f  Ibid.,  July  6,  1790. 

\  New  York  Journal,  June  15,  1790.    See,  also,  New  York  Journal,  August  31, 
1790. 

*  The  opponents  of  the  removal  treated  no  one  so  harshly  as  Robert  Morris. 
Indeed,  he  is  rarely  mentioned  in  the  pamphlets  of  that  day  except  as  "  Bobby 
the  Cofferer,"  or  "  Bobby  the  Treasurer."     In  one  caricature  which  hung  in  the 
shop-windows  at  New  York  for  many  months,  he  is  represented  as  carrying  off 
Federal  Hall  on  his  back,  the  members  of  Congress  cursing  or  encouraging  him 
from  the  windows,  while  the  Devil,  from  the  roof  of  Paulus  Hook  ferry-house,  cries 
out,  "  This  way,  Bobby." 

I  New  York  Journal,  July  1,  1790.     Connecticut  Courant,  July  5,  1790.     For 
further  comment  on  the  removal  of  Congress,  see  Gazette  of  the  United  States, 


1790.  SCARCITY   OF  MONEY.  587 

Before  rising,  the  Houses  made  an  attempt  to  calm  the 
angry  feelings  of  the  people,  for  an  election  was  near  at  hand.* 
A  million  dollars,  derived  mostly  from  the  sale  of  public 
lands,  were  ordered  to  be  spent  in  buying  up  the  public  debt. 
This  it  was  hoped  would  raise  the  national  credit,  put  up  the 
price  of  paper,  make  foreigners  pay  dear  for  American  securi 
ties,  restore  good  humor  to  the  creditors,  and  send  a  great  sum 
into  circulation,  f  The  money  was  much  needed.  So  scarce 
had  cash  become  that  it  was  not  possible  for  legislatures  or  se 
lect-men,  by  any  means  now  used  for  the  collection  of  a  revenue, 
to  wring  out  of  the  people  a  few  hundred  dollars  to  pay  the 
cost  of  local  government,  or  to  carry  on  works  of  public  im 
provement.^:  Taxes  the  people  would  not  bear.  To  issue 
bonds  would  have  been  useless,  for  the  authorities  could  not 
have  insured  the  interest  on  them  for  a  week.  Help,  there 
fore,  was  sought  in  a  means  now  universally  condemned,  and 

August  29,  1789.  Connecticut  Courant,  July  12,  1790.  Federal  Gazette,  June 
30  and  July  12,  1790.  New  York  Daily  Advertiser.  Also,  a  pamphlet  called  An 
Essay  on  the  Seat  of  Federal  Government  and  the  Exclusive  Jurisdiction  of  Con 
gress  over  a  ten  miles  District,  with  Observations  on  the  Economy  and  delicate 
Morals  to  be  observed  in  infant  States.  Humbly  offered  to  the  Public.  By  a 
Citizen  of  Philadelphia.  1739.  Even  Washington  did  not  escape  censure.  "A 
correspondent  requests,  that  the  worthy  M — r  of  New  York  would  consider  the 
expenditures  of  his  fellow-citizens  to  accommodate  Congress,  and  the  generous 
returns  they  have  made  them,  and  then,  if  he  can,  let  him  raise  a  portrait  more  last 
ing  than  brass,  to  perpetuate  the  virtues  of  the  P 1.  It  is  asked,  which  are 

the  virtues  that  render  him  so  respectable  ?  Why  are  they  not  singled  out  ?  Is 
it  for  that  inflexible  justice,  that  distinguished  gratitude  to  the  city  of  New  York  in 
giving  his  sanction  to  the  unconstitutional  residence  bill  ?"  New  York  Journal, 
July  23,  1790. 

*  It  was  believed,  in  districts  far  away  from  the  seat  of  Government,  that  as 
the  members  of  Congress  came  out  of  Federal  Hall  for  the  last  time,  the  angry 
citizens  of  New  York  attacked  them,  killed  some  and  severely  wounded  many 
more.  New  York  Journal,  August  24,  1790. 

f  Fisher  Ames  to  D wight,  August  8,  1790. 

\  Such  was  the  scarcity  of  money  in  Vermont  that  the  tickets  of  the  Windsor 
County  Grammar  School  Lottery  were  sold  for  two  bushels  of  wheat  each.  "  The 
scarcity  of  cash  has  induced  the  managers  to  adopt  the  plan  of  receiving  wheat 
notes  for  the  tickets,  and  paying  the  prizes  in  those  notes."  Vermont  Journal, 
December  2,  1788.  "Where  are  now,"  exclaims  a  pamphleteer,  "the  quantities 
of  coin  which  have  been  brought  into  the  American  States,  and  dipt  and  defaced 
during  the  last  seven  or  eight  years  ?  They  certainly  are  greatly  diminished,  to 
the  degree  of  stagnating  even  common  gaming."  On  Monies,  Coins,  Weights,  and 
Measures  proposed  for  the  United  States  of  America,  p.  11.  Philadelphia,  1789. 


588  THE  FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

abandoned  to  church  fairs  and  gamblers.  Lotteries  sprang  up, 
and  in  a  short  time  there  was  a  wheel  in  every  city  and  in 
every  town  large  enough  to  boast  of  a  court-house  or  a  jail. 
Whenever  a  clumsy  bridge  was  to  be  thrown  across  a  little 
stream,  a  public  building  enlarged,  a  school-house  built,  a 
street  paved,  a  road  repaired,  a  manufacturing  company  to  be 
aided,  a  church  assisted,  or  a  college  treasury  replenished,  a 
lottery  bill  was  passed  by  the  Legislature,  a  wheel  procured,  a 
notice  put  in  the  papers,  and  often  in  a  few  weeks  the  needed 
money  was  raised.  It  was  with  the  money  collected  from  the 
sale  of  lottery-tickets  that  Massachusetts  encouraged  cotton- 
spinning  and  paid  the  salaries  of  many  of  her  officers ;  that 
the  City  Hall  was  enlarged  at  J^ew  York,*  that  the  Court- 
House  was  rebuilt  at  Elizabeth,  f  that  the  library  was  increased 
at  Harvard,^  that  many  of  the  most  pretentious  buildings  were 
put  up  at  the  Federal  city.*  The  custom,  indeed,  continued 
for  several  years,  and  The  State  of  the  Wheel  became  as  regu 
lar  an  item  in  the  papers  as  the  ship  news  or  prices  current.  ] 

*  Gazette  of  the  United  States,  April,  1790. 
f  New  Jersey  Journal,  January  18,  1792. 

j  Federal  Orrery,  October,  1794. 

*  Gazette  of  the  United  States,  1794,  and  later. 

J  "  The  lottery  mania,"  says  a  correspondent,  "  appears  to  rage  with  uncom 
mon  violence.  It  is  said  there  are  nearly  twenty  lotteries  on  foot  in  the  different 
States.  The  sale  of  tickets  has  been  uncommonly  rapid.  Lotteries  have  been 
formed,  published,  and  the  tickets  sold  and  drawn  in  the  course  of  ten  or  fifteen 
days."  Pennsylvania  Mercury,  August  24,  1790.  "Every  part  of  the  United 
States  abounds  in  lotteries,"  says  another  writer.  Columbian  Centinel,  January 
22,  1791.  The  following  short  list  of  lotteries  and  their  purposes,  collected  at 
random  from  a  few  of  the  newspapers  for  the  year  1789-'90,  will  show  the  truth 
of  the  Centinel' s  statement : 

West  River  Bridge  Lottery,  Brattleborough  ;  Vermont  Journal,  September  2, 

1789.  Furnace  Lottery,  Fair  Haven  Iron  Works  ;  Vermont  Journal,    January- 
September,  1789.     Windsor  County  Grammar  School  Lottery  ;  Vermont  Journal, 
December  2,  1788.      Massachusetts  Semi- Annual    State    Lottery,   Massachusetts 
Monthly  State  Lottery  ;  Massachusetts  Spy,  September,  1790.     Leicester  Acade 
my  Lottery;  Massachusetts  Spy,  September,  1790.     Charlestown  Lottery  ;  Boston 
Gazette,  December,  1790.     Marblehead  Lottery;  Columbian  Centinel,  November, 

1790.  East  Hartford  Glass  Works  Lottery ;  Connecticut  Courant,  December  7, 
1789.     Hartford  Bank  Lottery,  to  build  a  bank  along  the  Connecticut  river  at 
Hartford  ;  Connecticut  Courant,  November,  1789.    River  Bank  Lottery,  "to  build 
a  bank  on  the  river  adjacent  to  the  public  road  through  the  Longmeadow  in  Mid- 
dletown  "  ;  Connecticut  Courant,  April,  1790.     Providence  Great  Bridge  Lottery; 


1790.  MINTS  FOR  STRIKING  COPPER   COIN.  589 

But  there  was,  unhappily,  one  class  in  the  community  sorely 
in  need  of  money  that  could  get  small  benefit  from  the  pro 
posed  issue.  Much  of  the  daily  purchase  of  the  poor  was 
made  with  coppers,  and  coppers  had  ceased  to  circulate. 

Until  the  summer  of  1Y89  such  pennies  as  were  considered 
good  money,  and  were  not  of  foreign  coinage,  bore  the  impress 
of  either  of  seven  mints.  *  One  of  these  was  at  Rupert,  a 
little  town  in  Vermont.  Another  was  for  some  months  at 
New  Haven ;  but,  after  consuming  twenty-eight  thousand 
pounds  of  copper,  the  supply  of  metal  gave  out  and  the  coin 
age  ceased.  It  was  at  this  mint  that  the  few  cents  made  under 
the  Jarvis  contract,  and  now  so  highly  prized  by  collectors, 
were  struck.  A  third  was  at  Boston,  a  fourth  at  Dedham,  a 
fifth  at  Solitude,  not  far  from  Morristown,  in  New  Jersey,  a 
sixth  at  Elizabeth.  The  seventh  had  been  authorized  by  the 
Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania. 

Though  the  nominal  values  of  the  pieces  put  out  at  each 

Columbian  Centinel,  December,   1790.      Bell  Lottery,  to  procure  bells  for  the 
German  Reformed    Church;    Maryland  Journal,  January    2,  1789.      Petersburg 
Church  Lottery;  Virginia  Gazette,  September  27,   1792.     Alexandria  Presbyte 
rian  Church  Lottery  ;  Virginia  Gazette  and  Alexandria  Advertiser,  January,  1791. 
Alexandria  Lottery,  to  pave  certain  streets ;    Virginia    Gazette  and  Alexandria 
Advertiser,    April    22,    1790.      Frcdericksburg   Academy  Lottery;    Virginia  Ga 
zette  and  Alexandria  Advertiser,  June,  1791.     Pine  Lottery,  for  the  sale  of  Real 
Estate  and  Paintings  ;  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  November,  1789.     Lottery  to  en 
able  the  Hebrews  to  remove  the  debt  on  their  synagogue  ;  Pennsylvania  Journal. 
October  8,  1790.     Lottery  to  build  a  City  Hall  at  Philadelphia;    Pennsylvania 
Packet,  December,  1789.     New  York  City  Lottery  to  enlarge  the  City  Hall  for  the 
use  of  Congress  ;  New  York  Journal,  March  18,  1790.     New  Haven  Glass  Works 
Lottery;    Connecticut  Journal,  December,  1790.     Lottery  for  extending  and  im 
proving  the  Woollen  Manufactory  at  Hartford  ;  Connecticut  Journal,  April,  1791. 
New  Haven  Long  Wharf  Lottery,  granted  in  December,  1790  ;  Connecticut  Jour- 
nal,  April,  1791.     This  work  was  afterwards  described  as  follows: 
"  No  decent  pier  receives  the  freighted  bark — 
A  cluttered  mud-bank  (dangerous  in  the  dark, 
Of  length  enormous,  at  whose  timbered  side 
A  pigmy  fleet  of  oyster-boats  may  ride 
Safe  moor'd  in  mud)  is  all  that  bears  the  name, 
Or  to  a  pier  or  wharf  can  kindred  claim." 

New  Haven.  A  Poem,  Satirical  and  Sentimental,  with  Critical,  Humorous,  De 
scriptive,  Historical,  Biographical  and  Explanatory  Notes.  By  Selim  (S.  Woods- 
worth).  1809,  pp.  7,  8. 

*  See  a  paper  on  Connecticut  Currency,  in  Papers  of  the  New  Haven  Histori 
cal  Society,  vol.  i,  pp.  175-180. 


590  THE  FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

were  the  same,  their  market  values  changed  at  almost  every 
town  into  which  they  came.  Travellers  journeying  from  New 
York  to  Philadelphia  found  the  contents  of  their  wallets  shrink 
and  swell  as  they  passed  through  the  villages  on  the  road  in  a 
way  that  seemed  out  of  all  reason.  Coppers,  which  at  New 
York  went  at  twenty-one,  were  taken  at  New  Brunswick  by 
the  tavern-keepers  at  twenty  to  the  shilling.  If  the  travellers 
stopped  over  night  at  Princeton  to  view  the  college  buildings, 
the  coppers  they  received  in  change  for  the  milled  dollars  with 
which  they  paid  for  their  lodgings  and  Madeira  were  given  at 
the  rate  of  twenty-four  to  the  shilling.  But  at  Trenton,  ten 
miles  away,  the  shopkeepers  would  not  take  the  same  pieces 
at  less  than  thirty  to  the  shilling.*  Once  across  the  Delaware, 
however,  their  value  again  increased.  Pennsylvania,  by  an  act 
of  1786,  had  given  two  men  the  right  to  strike  ten  thousand 
pounds  sterling  in  coppers,  to  pass  at  fifteen  to  the  shilling, 
and  by  a  law  of  the  year  following  decreed  that  every  man 
who  passed  a  copper  not  of  the  State  issue  should,  as  a  pen 
alty,  forfeit  ten.  f  The  law,  as  was  natural,  was  evaded. 
Hucksters  and  innkeepers,  who  dealt  largely  with  the  poor, 
and  whose  tills  were  as  a  consequence  full  of  the  condemned 
money,  gave  no  heed  to  a  law  which  on  forty-six  days'  notice 
deprived  them  and  their  customers  of  many  dollars,  and  put 
them  to  great  straits  for  change.  Pennies  from  the  mints 
at  New  Haven  and  Boston  continued,  therefore,  to  pass, 
and  such  quantities  came  from  New  York  that  the  days 
of  Wood's  famous  brass  money  seemed  to  have  returned. 
This  went  on  till  Washington  was  inaugurated  and  the 
new  Government  established.  Then  on  a  sudden,  in  all  the 
large  towns  and  cities,  men  began  to  refuse  to  take  the 
State  coins,  which  would,  they  thought,  soon  be  declared 
bad.  A  rapid  depreciation  began.  In  New  York  pennies 
fell  to  twenty-five,  to  thirty,  to  forty,  to  fifty,  to  sixty-four 
to  the  shilling.;):  There,  for  a  while,  the  decline  stopped. 
But  ere  the  summer  of  1Y89  was  passed  they  ceased  to  circu 
late.  Distress  and  confusion  followed,  for  large  sums  in  copper 

*  Independent  Gazetteer,  June  28,  1787. 
f  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  July  18,  1787. 
\  Freeman's  Journal,  August  5,  1789. 


1790.  NO  COPPERS  AT  NEW  YORK.  591 

were  still  in  the  hands  of  merchants  and  shopkeepers.*  But 
the  suffering  was  confined  almost  entirely  to  the  poor.  Their 
plight  was  truly  deplorable.  Numbers  of  shops  were  forced 
to  close.  The  cries  of  the  hawkers  were  no  longer  heard  in 
the  streets,  and  it  was  with  difficulty  that  the  laborers  could 
find  means  to  buy  bread  at  the  bakers',  or  vegetables  at  the 
markets. f  So  great  was  the  suffering  that  the  Common  Coun 
cil  of  the  City  of  New  York  took  up  the  matter,  and  urged 
the  citizens,  as  an  act  of  mercy,  to  receive  the  coppers  at  forty- 
eight  to  the  shilling.:]:  This  was  done.  Yet  no  good  came  of 
it.  Small  change  continued  to  grow  scarcer  and  scarcer,  and 
the  losses  of  the  poor  became  so  great  that,  early  in  the  spring 
of  1790,  the  Common  Council  once  more  interfered.  They 
ordered  a  number  of  tickets  to  be  printed  having  a  face  value, 
some  of  one,  some  of  two,  and  some  of  three  pence.  These 
the  city  treasurer  gave  out  to  such  as  wished  them,  in  exchange 
for  joes  and  shillings,  and  assured  the  public  that  the  tickets 
could  at  any  time  be  exchanged  in  sums  of  more  than  five  shil 
lings  for  silver,  or  the  currency  of  the  State.*  Such  quantities 
were  taken  that  a  few  months  later  the  Manufacturing  Society 
followed  the  example  and  put  out  tickets  of  a  face  value  of 

*  "  Many  of  the  merchants  and  shopkeepers,  it  is  said,  have  large  quantities 
of  this  coin  by  them,  by  which  they  will  be  great  sufferers."     Pennsylvania  Ga 
zette,  July  27,  1789. 

f  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  July  29,  1789. 

^  The  resolution  of  the  Common  Council  declares  that  "  this  board,  conceiving 
it  their  duty  to  interpose  their  advice  on  this  interesting  occasion,  do  recommend 
it  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  to  receive  and  pay  the  said  coin  at  the  rate  of 
forty-eight  coppers  for  one  shilling."  Passed  July  21,  1789.  New  York  Daily 
Advertiser,  July  23,  1789. 

In  a  letter  written  a  few  days  after  the  action  of  the  Common  Council,  the 
embarrassment  of  the  money  market  is  attributed  to  the  payment  of  one  and  a 
half  per  cent  premium  on  French  coin,  and  to  the  importation  of  copper  coin 
in  immense  quantities  to  make  change.  "  This  arrived  at  last  to  such  an  abuse 
of  the  public  confidence  that  their  circulation  has  on  a  sudden  almost  ceased." 
Some,  however,  advertised  that  they  would  take  coppers  at  sixty  to  the  shilling. 
Independent  Gazetteer,  July  31,  1789.  "  On  the  whole,"  says  another  authority, 
who  signs  his  pamphlet  B.,  "  of  what  I  can  collect  concerning  copper  coins,  it 
seems  they  do  not  pass  so  much  by  virtue  of  their  small  intrinsic  worth  as  by 
common  consent,  induced  by  a  degree  of  necessity.  .  .  ."  On  Monies,  Coins, 
Weights,  and  Measures  proposed  for  the  United  States  of  America,  p.  15.  Phila 
delphia,  1789. 

*  See  the  notice  to  the  public  in  New  York  Journal,  March  18,  1790. 


592  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

one,  two,  three,  four,  five  and  six  pence>  "  in  order "  it  was 
declared,  "  to  accommodate  the  operations  of  their  Factory."  * 

In  Connecticut  a  few  sharpers  from  the  coast  towns  made 
great  profits  by  purchasing  quantities  of  the  coins  at  New 
Haven,  where  they  were  still  taken,  when  necessary  to  make 
change,  at  six  to  the  penny  lawful  money,  and  passing  them 
off  on  the  farmers  at  twenty-seven  to  the  shilling,  f 

But  withal  the  popular  feeling  throughout  the  New  Eng 
land  States  during  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1790  was  one  of 
contentment.  There  was,  as  Fisher  Ames  wrote  a  few  months 
later,  a  scarcity  of  grievances. £  The  ill-nature  provoked  by 
the  contest  over  the  new  plan  had  gone  down.  Men  who  had 
been  clamorous  over  the  deficiencies  of"  the  Constitution  had 
been  silenced  by  the  twelve  amendments  submitted  by  Con 
gress,  and  the  prompt  ratification  of  ten  of  them  by  the  States. 
Even  in  Rhode  Island  the  tide  had  turned,  the  Federalists  had 
prevailed,  and  the  State  had,  late  in  May,  been  brought  into 
the  Union.*  Much  satisfaction  had  been  given  by  the  vigor 
ous  financial  policy  of  the  Government.  Every  farmer,  every 
merchant,  every  man  who  had  a  shilling  of  taxable  property, 
felt  that  his  taxes  had  been  lightened  and  his  comfort  increased 
by  the  assumption  bill.  He  beheld  with  pleasure  the  prices  of 
public  securities  going  up,  and  the  figures  of  the  national  debt 
going  down.  He  saw  final  settlements  which  sold  at  seven 
shillings  and  sixpence,  and  indents  that  went  at  five  shillings 
to  the  pound  in  January,  held  at  fifteen  shillings  before  the 
year  went  out.  He  heard  with  unconcealed  delight  that  in 
Holland  the  foreign  loan  had  gone  above  par,  and  that  two 
hundred  and  seventy-eight  thousand  dollars  of  the  domestic 
debt  had  been  purchased  and  cancelled  at  a  cost  of  one  hun 
dred  and  fifty  thousand.  Trade  was  reviving.  Old  manufac 
tures  were  increasing ;  new  ones  were  being  set  on  foot.  The 

*  See  the  notice  in  New  York  Journal,  August  13,  1790.     For  some  ill-natured 
remarks  on  these  corporation  tickets,  see  Journal,  August  10  and  13,  1790. 

f  Freeman's  Journal,  August  5,  1789.  See  allusions  to  the  state  of  the  copper 
coinage  in  Gazette  of  the  United  States,  September  5,  1789. 

\  Fisher  Ames  to  Dwight,  April  26,  1791.  "People  here  (Boston)  seem  to 
care  as  little  about  politics  as  I  think  you  do  at  this  moment.  There  is  a  scarcity 
of  grievances.  Their  mouths  are  stopped  with  white  bread  and  roast  meat." 

*  May  29,  1790.     Gazette  of  the  United  States,  June  2,  1790. 


/ 

/    "V 


1790.  DISCONTENT  IN  THE  SOUTH.  593 

innumerable  lotteries  which  sprang  up  all  over  the  East  were  a 
sure  sign  of  a  widely  diffused  spirit  of  public  improvement,  a 
desire  for  larger  docks,  better  bridges,  finer  roads,  more  com 
modious  court-houses,  more  numerous  schools.  And  deeply 
engaged  in  works  of  this  kind,  the  East  gave  little  heed  to  the 
political  contentions  that  distracted  the  South. 

Beyond  the  Potomac  everything  done  by  the  new  Govern 
ment  since  its  establishment  was  thought  to  be  wrong.  The 
salaries  bill,  the  residence  bill,  the  revenue  bill,  the  funding 
bill,  were  so  many  pieces  of  jobbery  in  the  interest  of  the 
East.  But  the  vilest  of  all  was  the  assumption  bill.  Indeed, 
for  several  years  no  writer  for  the  Antifederal  press  could  use 
the  word  without  a  hearty  curse  or  a  string  of  coarse  adjectives. 
In  Virginia  the  measure  was  particularly  detested.  That  State 
had  long  boasted  of  the  efforts  she  had  made  to  pay  off  her 
share  of  the  war  debt,  and  had  pointed  with  just  pride  to  the 
figures  which  gave  evidence  of  her  success.  And  now,  when 
her  citizens  beheld  the  delinquent  States,  the  States  that  had 
refused  quotas,  that  had  given  so  grudgingly,  that  had  always 
been  far  in  arrears,  shift  the  debts  they  had  never  tried  to  pay 
upon  the  whole  country,  a  cry  went  up  that  assumption  was  a 
wicked  and  an  unjust  thing.  Virginia,  it  was  said,  "fairly 
reeked  and  teemed  with  Antifederalism."  It  was  not  long, 
therefore,  before  a  memorial  condemning  assumption  in  strong 
language  was  passed  by  the  Assembly  and  on  its  way  to  Con 
gress.  In  Maryland  a  motion  declaring  assumption  to  be  dan 
gerous  to  the  individual  existence  of  the  State  was  lost  by  the 
casting  vote  of  the  Speaker.  In  North  Carolina,  the  excise, 
assumption,  and  the  quarrel  that  had  sprung  up  between  the 
State  Court  and  the  Federal  Court,  had  produced  great  indig 
nation.  The  Legislature,  in  a  series  of  resolutions,  scolded  their 
representatives,  used  harsh  language  toward  the  administration, 
and  when  a  motion  was  made  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to 
he  Constitution,  threw  it  out  by  a  large  majority.  Georgia 
was  in  a  ferment  over  the  treaty  with  the  Creeks. 

The  Indian  affairs  were,  in  truth,  in  a  most  alarming  state. 
All  through  the  summer  stories  and  rumors  of  midnight  mas 
sacres,  and  Cold-blooded  murders  of  emigrants  along  the  Ohio, 
had  been  crowding  the  columns  of  the  Gazettes  and  Journals. 

o 
VOL.  i. — 39 


594  THE  FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

At  first  they  were  supposed  to  be  merely  accounts  of  such  bar 
barities  as  the  Indians  had  always  perpetrated  on  the  settlers  of 
a  new  country  from  the  days  of  John  Smith  and  Miles  Stan- 
dish  down.  But  ere  Christmas  came  it  was  well  known  that 
the  settlers  in  the  western  territory  were  involved  in  a  general 
Indian  war. 

To  form  a  just  conception  of  the  cause  of  the  long  series  of 
Indian  wars  which  now  began  to  disturb  the  peace  and  pros 
perity  of  the  West,  we  must  recall  briefly  the  claims  of  the 
Indians  and  of  the  Government  to  the  land  in  dispute. 

That  part  of  our  country  which  lies  between  the  Mississippi 
and  the  Blue  Ridge,  the  great  lakes  and  the  Gulf,  had,  in  the 
century  preceding  the  revolution,  been  explored  and  settled  by 
missionaries  and  adventurers  from  France.  Far  back  in  the 
sixteenth  century  Cartier  explored  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  led 
out  a  colony  to  settle  on  its  banks.  But  the  attempt  failed, 
the  colonists  perished,  and  for  sixty  years  the  Indians  seldom 
saw  a  white  man  among  them.  At  last,  in  1608,  Samuel  Cham- 
plain  repeated  the  attempt,  led  a  band  of  hardy  adventurers, 
eager  for  the  souls  of  men  and  the  skins  of  beasts,  to  the  Isle 
of  Orleans,  and  hard  by,  on  the  high  bluffs  which  look  down 
on  the  river  and  the  island,  marked  out  the  city  of  Quebec. 
The  colonists  found  themselves  far  from  home,  in  a  cheerless 
climate,  in  a  vast  wilderness,  and  in  the  midst  of  tribes  of  red 
men  who  beheld  the  little  hamlet  with  no  friendly  eye.  So 
much  depended  on  the  good-will  of  the  Indians  that  Champlain 
left  nothing  undone  to  gain  it.  He  made  them  presents, 
joined  them  in  an  alliance,  and  went  with  them  on  the  war 
path  to  the  shores  of  that  beautiful  sheet  of  water  which  still 
bears  his  name.  There  a  great  battle  was  fought.  The  arms 
and  the  courage  of  the  French  prevailed,  and  a  victory  full  of 
consequences  to  the  white  men  was  won.  For  three  genera 
tions  after  the  battle  every  Algonkin  was  the  steady  friend, 
and  every  Iroquois  the  implacable  enemy,  of  the  French ; 
and  to  this  more  than  to  anything  else  is  to  be  ascribed  the  ex 
ploration  and  settlement  of  the  Northwest.  The  Iroquois 
were  powerful  through  all  New  York.  The  Algonkins  ruled 
along  the  St.  Lawrence  and  .the  chain  of  lakes.  When,  there 
fore,  the  French  missionaries  began  their  search  for  proselytes 


1790.      DISCOVERY   OF  THE  WEST  BY  THE  FRENCH.        595 

and  furs,  they  shunned  the  Iroquois  and  travelled  westward 
among  the  tribes  of  the  Algonkin  nation. 

Le  Caron,  a  Franciscan,  went  first,  and  for  ten  years  toiled 
among  the  Indians  on  the  Niagara  and  the  shores  of  Lake 
Huron.  Brebeuf  and  Daniel  went  next,  reached  Sault  Ste. 
Marie,  and  founded  at  St.  Ignatius,  St.  Louis,  and  St.  Joseph, 
villages  of  Christian  Huron.  But  the  Iroquois  overwhelmed 
them,  destroyed  the  villages,  and  burned  the  missionaries  at 
the  stake.  Mesnard  went  yet  farther  to  the  west,  saw  the 
waters  of  Lake  Superior,  paddled  in  a  canoe  around  its  southern 
shores,  built  a  church  at  St.  Theresa  bay,  and  disappeared  for 
ever  at  the  portage  of  Keweenaw.  Long  afterward  his  breviary 
and  his  cassock  were  found  among  the  Sioux.  Allouez  fol 
lowed  him,  explored  both  shores  of  the  lake,  and  on  the  western 
end  met  the  Sioux  and  heard  for  the  first  time  of  the  great 
river  the  Indians  called  the  Messipi.  But  all  the  glory  of  its 
exploration  belongs  to  Marquette. 

He  set  out,  in  May,  1673,  from  Mackinaw,  with  six  com 
panions,  in  two  birch  canoes,  paddled  down  the  lake  to  Green 
bay,  entered  Fox  river,  and  dragging  the  boats  through  its 
boiling  rapids,  came  to  a  village  where  lived  the  Miamis  and 
the  Kickapoos.  There  Allouez  had  preached  and  taught.  But 
beyond  it  no  white  man  had  ever  gone.  The  Indians  would 
have  dissuaded  them,  told  them  of  warriors  that  would  cut  off 
their  heads,  of  monsters  that  would  swallow  their  canoes,  and 
of  a  demon  who  shut  the  way  and  drowned  in  the  waters  that 
seethed  about  him  all  who  came  within  his  reach.  But  the 
zeal  of  Marquette  burned  fiercely,  and  on  the  tenth  of  June, 
1673,  he  led  his  little  band,  with  two  Indian  guides,  over  the 
swamps  and  marshes  that  separated  the  village  from  a  river 
which  the  guides  assured  him  flowed  into  the  Messipi.  This 
westward-flowing  river  he  called  the  Ouisconsin,  and  there  the 
guides  left  him,  as  he  says,  "  alone,  amid  that  unknown  country, 
in  the  hands  of  God." 

With  prayers  to  the  mother  of  Jesus,  the  little  band  shoved 
their  canoes  boldly  out  upon  the  river,  and  for  seven  days 
floated  slowly  downward  toward  the  Mississippi.  The  still 
ness  of  the  Ouisconsin  river,  now  crowded  with  villages  and 
towns,  seemed  oppressive.  Never  before  had  they  seen  such 


596  THE  FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.  OHAP.  vi, 

buffalo,  such  deer,  such  stags.  The  sand-bars  that  stopped  their 
way,  the  innumerable  islands  covered  with  vines  and  groves, 
and  bordered  with  pleasant  slopes,  the  paroquets  that  screamed 
in  the  trees,  the  "  wingless  swans  "  that  strutted  on  the  banks, 
the  great  fish  that  they  feared  would  dash  their  canoes  to 
pieces,  filled  them  with  indescribable  awe.  At  last,  on  the  sev 
enteenth  of  June,  they  floated  out  on  the  bosom  of  the  Missis 
sippi,  and  turned  their  canoes  to  the  south.  Four  days  they 
followed  the  bends  and  twists  of  the  river,  and  on  the  twenty- 
first  of  the  month  saw  in  the  mud  of  the  western  bank  foot 
prints,  and  a  path  that  disappeared  in  a  meadow.  Leaving  the 
canoes  with  their  companions  on  the  river,  Marquette  and  Joliet 
took  the  path  through  the  meadows  to  a  cluster  of  Indian  vil 
lages,  on  the  shore  of  what  is  now  believed  to  be  the  river 
Des  Moines.  There  they  feasted,  spent  the  night,  and  went 
back  next  morning  to  their  followers,  and,  while  the  savages 
crowded  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  resumed  their  journey. 
They  floated  down  the  stream,  past  the  rocks  whereon  were 
painted  the  monsters  of  which  they  had  heard  so  much,  past 
the  mouth  of  the  Missouri,  past  the  Ohio,  and  stopped  not  far 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas.  There  the  voyage  ended, 
and  the  party  went  slowly  back  to  the  lakes. 

The  discovery  of  Marquette  was  the  greatest  of  his  age. 
Thenceforth  every  earnest  Jesuit  of  New  France  longed  to 
lead  an  expedition  into  the  unknown  country.  Neither  heat 
nor  cold,  neither  ice  nor  snow,  neither  hunger  nor  thirst,  the 
attacks  of  savage  foes,  nor  the  treachery  of  faint-hearted  fol 
lowers,  could  deter  them.  Physical  suffering  and  physical  ob 
stacles  such  as  have  more  than  once  brought  ruin  to  bands  of 
adventurers  as  hardy  as  they,  served  but  to  increase  the  ardor 
of  the  zealots.  They  penetrated  forests  into  which  the  savages 
had  never  dared  to  go.  They  explored  rivers  down  whose 
waters  no  Indian  had  ever  paddled.  They  founded  missiona 
ry-stations,  they  built  churches,  they  laid  out  towns,  they  put 
up  forts.  Such  was  the  zeal  they  brought  to  their  work  that, 
when  Washington  marched  under  Braddock  to  the  fatal  field 
of  Monongahela,  the  Mississippi  had  been  explored  from  the 
Falls  of  St.  Anthony  to  the  Gulf,  and  the  famous  chain  of  forts 
wellnigh  completed.  Yet  little  territory  had  been  acquired 


1790.  INDIAN  TREATIES.  597 

The  custom  of  the  French  had  never  been  to  purchase  of  the 
Indians  great  stretches  of  land.  They  were  content  to  secure 
small  grants  around  their  forts  and  settlements,  and  it  was 
these  detached  parcels  that  they  made  over  to  England  by  the 
treaty  of  Paris  in  1763.  Five  years  later  came  Pontiac's  war 
and  defeat,  the  treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix,  and  the  cession  by  the 
Iroquois  of  all  land  south  of  the  Ohio  to  England.  When, 
therefore,  the  independence  of  the  States  was  acknowledged, 
Great  Britain  surrendered  what  she  had  received  from  France 
and  what  she  had  taken  from  the  Iroquois.  But  in  the  region 
to  the  north  of  the  Ohio,  save  the  title  to  a  few  acres  about 
the  forts  she  continued  to  hold,  she  transferred  nothing ;  and 
there  lived  the  Miamis,  the  Delawares,  the  Shawanese,  the 
Ottawas,  the  Wyandots. 

In  theory,  Congress  affected  to  hold  that  the  claim  of 
these  Indians  to  the  land  had  been  forfeited  by  the  part  they 
took  in  the  war.  In  practice,  Congress  treated  them  as  sover 
eign  nations,  made  treaties,  and  sent  out  commissioners  to 
smoke  the  calumet  and  present  the  wampum  and  the  beads. 
Indeed,  between  1783  and  1790,  no  less  than  five  treaties  were 
made.  The  first,  in  1784:,  at  Fort  Stanwix,  secured  from  the 
Iroquois  all  claim  to  the  lands  which  now  make  up  the  States 
of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois.  The  second,  at  Fort  Mclntosh, 
was  with  the  AVyandots,  the  Delawares,  and  the  Chippewas. 
The  third  was  with  the  Shawanese,  at  Fort  Finney,  in  1786. 
The  fourth  and  fifth,  at  Fort  Harmar,  in  1789,  confirmed  the 
others.  But  with  the  Kickapoos,  the  Pottawattamies,  the 
Miamis,  the  "Weas,  and  the  Eel  river  tribes,  no  treaties  were 
made.  Indeed,  they  declared  they  would  make  none.  The 
Ohio  should  be  the  southern  boundary  between  the  Long 
Knives  and  the  red  men,  and  over  that  river  no  settler  should 
ever  come  and  live. 

The  task  which  St.  Clair  found  before  him  when,  in  1790, 
he  sailed  down  the  river  to  Losantiville,  was,  therefore,  no 
light  one.  Every  trader  and  hunter  who  came  in  from  the 
Indian  country  brought  news  of  an  alarming  kind.  One  had 
crouched  in  the  bushes  while  a  band  of  warriors,  hideous  in 
paint  and  feathers,  had  marched  by  within  gunshot.  Another 
had  stood  by  the  British  commandant  of  one  of  the  frontier 


598  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.  CHAP,  vi* 

forts  when  the  Indians  offered  him  coats  riddled  with  bullets 
and  smeared  with  blood.  A  third  told  of  a  family  massacred 
at  the  dead  of  night,  or  of  a  boat-load  of  emigrants  waylaid 
and  butchered  on  the  river.  To  quiet  these  disorders,  St.  Clair 
dispatched  an  officer  named  Hamtramck  to  the  Indians  on  the 
Wabash.  Hamtramck  hastened  to  Fort  Knox,  and  there  in 
turn  employed  Gamelin,  a  Frenchman  and  a  trader  of  Yin- 
cennes,  to  go  among  the  Indians,  to  find  out  their  purposes, 
and,  if  possible,  appease  their  angry  mood.  Gamelin  was  gone 
a  month,  and  then  came  back  with  such  an  alarming  report  of 
the  temper  of  the  savages  that  St.  Clair  went  with  all  speed  to 
Cincinnati  to  prepare  for  the  defence  of  the  frontier.  The 
militia  was  called  out.  The  regulars  were  put  in  motion,  and 
early  in  October  the  army,  numbering  fourteen  hundred  and 
fifty-three  men,  took  up  the  line  of  march. 

Never  before  had  such  a  collection  of  men  been  dignified 
with  the  name  of  army.  The  crowd  of  discarded,  unjust  serv 
ing  men  and  revolted  tapsters  that  followed  Falstaff  to  the  field 
of  Shrewsbury  would  have  put  it  to  shame.  In  place  of  trap 
pers  and  hunters,  woodsmen  accustomed  to  bearing  arms,  to 
enduring  fatigue,  and  skilled  in  all  the  arts  of  Indian  fighting, 
came  old  men  who  ought  never  to  have  quitted  the  chimney- 
corner,  and  striplings  who  had  never  raised  a  beard.  Some 
had  guns  without  locks.  Some  had  locks  and  barrels  with 
out  stocks.  Some  had  no  weapons  at  all.  Nor  were  those 
who  had  much  better  off,  for  the  officers  complained  bitterly 
that  half  of  them  were  too  ignorant  to  take  off  a  lock  to 
oil  it,  or  put  in  a  flint  so  as  to  be  of  use.  What  discipline  was 
they  did  not  know.  When  the  Kentucky  troops  arrived,  two 
officers  named  Hardin  and  Trotter  contended  for  the  com 
mand.  Colonel  Hardin  demanded  it  as  the  senior  officer. 
But  Colonel  Trotter  was  the  more  popular.  A  dispute  accord 
ingly  arose  between  them,  which  was  settled  by  the  men  de 
claring  they  would  obey  none  but  Trotter,  and  would  go  home 
instantly  if  he  were  not  placed  in  command. 

At  length,  when  the  broken  arms  had  been  mended  and  all 
disputes  adjusted,  the  march  began.  The  Maumee  villages 
were  selected  for  the  first  attack,  and  when  about  thirty  miles 
away,  Colonel  Hardin,  with  some  militia  and  regulars,  was  sent 


1790.  THE  INDIAN  WAR.  599 

forward  to  surprise  the  enemy  and  hold  them  in  their  wigwams 
till  the  main  body  of  the  army  could  come  up.  And  now  the 
blundering  began.  Hardin-  spent  a  day  and  a  half  going  thirty- 
five  miles.  The  main  army,  with  artillery,  spent  three.  When 
the  towns  were  reached,  the  enemy  had  left,  and  the  troops 
consumed  four  days  more  in  the  work  of  destruction.  Harmar 
had  intended  to  push  on  to  the  Wabash  and  punish  the  Wea 
Indians.  But  so  many  pack-horses  and  cavalry-horses  had 
been  stolen  by  the  Indians  while  the  troops  slept  that  all 
thought  of  the  expedition  was  given  up.  Trotter,  with  three 
hundred  men,  was  thereupon  ordered  to  scour  the  woods  in 
search  of  the  enemy.  When  he  had  gone  about  a  mile,  a 
mounted  Indian  was  seen,  chased  by  the  cavalry,  and  killed. 
As  the  pursuers  were  returning  to  the  column  they  came  upon 
a  second  Indian.  Instantly  the  four  field  officers  deserted  their 
command  without  a  word,  gave  chase  to  the  Indian,  and  did 
not  return  for  half  an  hour.  Meanwhile,  the  troops,  left  with 
out  a  commander,  wandered  about  as  they  pleased.  At  night 
fall  they  came  back  to  camp. 

This  manner  of  fighting  was  so  little  to  the  liking  of  Gen 
eral  Harmar  that  a  party  was  dispatched  the  following  morn 
ing  under  Colonel  Hardin.  Hardin  was  a  man  of  courage, 
but  as  poor  an  officer  as  the  army  could  produce.  When  he 
had  gone  about  five  miles  from  camp  he  came  upon  a  spot 
where  the  smouldering  fires  and  fragments  of  food  scattered 
about  showed  the  Indians  had  slept  and  feasted  there  the 
night  before.  Hardin  ordered  a  halt,  placed  the  companies  at 
some  distance  from  each  other,  and,  after  a  rest  of  half  an 
hour,  resumed  the  march.  But  so  negligent  was  he  that  no 
orders  were  sent  to  one  of  the  companies.  It  remained,  there 
fore,  upon  the  ground ;  nor  was  it  missed  till  the  army  had 
gone  oil  three  miles  in  advance.  Presently  the  smoke  of  fires 
was  seen  curling  up  in  the  distance.  An  officer  pointed  it 
out  to  Hardin,  but  he  gave  it  no  heed.  The  Indians,  he  said, 
sneeringly,  would  not  fight,  and  rode  on.  Scarcely  had  he 
spoken  when  the  Indians  opened  fire  upon  him.  Instantly 
all  was  confusion.  Hardin  fled.  The  militia  threw  down  their 
loaded  arms  and  ran  for  the  nearest  thicket.  Armstrong,  who 
commanded  the  Federal  troops,  alone  stood  his  ground,  fought 


600  THE  FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

bravely  till  the  last  man  fell  at  his  side,  when  he  threw  him 
self  into  the  thick  brush  and  escaped.* 

That  night,  overcome  with  shame,  Hardin  led  back  his 
militia  to  camp.  Harmar  in  the  meanwhile  had  been  busy 
destroying  villages  and  burning  corn.  This  work  done,  he 
gave  the  command  to  return  to  the  settlements.  On  the 
twenty-first  of  October  the  march  began.  Toward  sunset 
Hardin,  chafing  under  his  shameful  defeat,  commenced  to  beg 
hard  for  a  detachment  to  go  back  and  renew  the  fight.  The 
Indians,  he  was  sure,  would  return  to  the  villages  just  burned. 
He  could  take  them  unawares.  The  surprise  would  be  com 
plete.  The  victory  was  assured.  For  a  time  Harmar  remained 
firm  in  his  refusal,  but  at  length  gave  way,  and  sent  Hardin 
back  with  three  hundred  and  forty  men.  It  was  dusk  when 
they  set  out,  but  so  slowly  did  the  militia  march  that  the  sun 
was  well  up  when  the  scouts  reported  the  Indians  in  force  just 
ahead  of  them.  The  spot  was  on  one  of  the  bends  of  the 
Maumee  river,  not  far  from  the  site  of  the  present  city  of 
Fort  Wayne.  There  the  troops  were  drawn  up  in  three  di 
visions.  Two  were  to  attack  in  front.  The  third  was  to  march 
round  the  bend,  cross  the  river,  and  strike  the  Indians  in  the 
rear  as  soon  as  the  firing  began  in  front.  The  manoeuvre  was 
well  executed.  The  crossing  was  made,  the  ground  was  se 
cured,  and  victory  seemed  certain,  when,  unhappily,  an  Indian 
starting  from  the  brush,  the  troops,  in  flagrant  disobedience  of 
orders,  opened  fire.  This  gave  the  alarm.  The  savages  fled. 
The  militia  pursued  them  till,  seeing  one  of  their  leaders  fall, 
they  in  turn  broke  and  fled. 

When  Hardin  reached  the  army  he  again  urged  Harmar  to 
send  back  another  force  to  the  battle-ground.  But  the  Gen 
eral  would  hear  nothing  of  it.  He  could  not,  he  said,  divide 
his  force ;  ho  had  no  food  for  the  horses,  he  must  return  to 
the  settlements ;  and,  besides,  the  Indians  had  already  received 
a  very  good  scourging.  The  troops  accordingly  took  up  the 
line  of  march  for  Fort  Washington.  All  went  well  till  they 
came  to  Chillicothe,  on  the  Little  Miami,  where  a  number  of 
the  militia,  contrary  to  orders,  discharged  their  guns.  This 

*  See  Captain  Armstrong's  account  of  the  fight  in  New  York  Journal,  Febru 
ary  7,  1791. 


1790.         SETTLEMENTS  NORTHWEST   OF  THE   OHIO.          601 

was  too  much  even  for  Hardin.  His  temper  since  his  two 
defeats  had  been  none  of  the  best.  He  now  lost  all  control  of 
it,  and  for  the  first  time  established  something  like  discipline. 
Seizing  one  of  the  soldiers,  he  ordered  a  file  of  men  to  drag 
him  to  the  six-pound  gun,  tie  him  there,  and  bade  the  drum 
mer  give  him  six  lashes.  "By  what  authority,"  demanded 
Colonel  Trotter,  at  the  head  of  a  crowd  of  militia,  "  do  you 
order  that  man  whipped  ?  "  "  In  support  of  general  orders," 
said  Hardin,  stoutly.  A  warm  dispute  followed ;  but  Harmar 
coming  up  he  severely  reprimanded  Trotter,  ordered  the  Fed 
eral  troops  to  parade,  commanded  the  drummer  to  do  his  duty, 
and  swore  a  great  oath  that  he  would  risk  his  life  in  support  of 
his  orders.  The  lashes  were  well  laid  on. 

St.  Clair  and  Harmar  affected  to  consider  the  expedition 
as  a  great  success.  Five  Indian  towns,  it  was  said  proudly, 
twenty  thousand  bushels  of  corn,  and  a  score  of  savages  had 
been  destroyed.  Had  Clarke  done  more  in  1Y82  ?  Had  he 
done  as  much  in  1786?  And  would  any  one  say  he  failed? 
The  two  commanders  therefore  talked  much  of  the  happy  re 
sults  that  must  come  of  their  short  campaign,  and  boasted  of 
the  fine  scourging  they  had  given  the  Miamis.  The  scourge, 
unhappily,  stung  without  harming.  The  burning  of  a  few 
dozen  wretched  wigwams  of  filthy  skins  that  passed  under  the 
name  of  villages,  the  loss  of  one  harvesting  of  corn,  the  death 
of  an  old  squaw  and  a  few  braves,  served  but  to  rouse  the 
tribes  on  the  Wabash  to  a  state  of  fury.  The  cowardice  of 
the  militia  made  them  think  they  were  more  than  a  match  for 
the  largest  army  the  settlers  could  bring  against  them,  and  in 
truth  they  were. 

In  that  remote  region  of  the  West  where  lay  the  posses 
sions  of  the  Ohio  Company,  two  hundred  and  eighty-seven 
men  were  all  that  could  in  any  emergency  be  collected  and 
made  to  bear  arms.*  Even  this  little  force  was  scattered  far 
and  wide  over  the  company's  purchase,  and  lived  in  many 

*  The  census  of  1790  gives  the  population  of  the  territory  northwest  of  the 
river  Ohio  as  4,280.  At  Vineennes  were  1,000  souls,  on  Symmes's  Purchase  1,300, 
on  the  Ohio  Company's  purchase  1,000.  The  rest  were  at  the  Kaskaskias,  Cay- 
hokia,  Clarksville  at  the  rapids  of  the  Ohio,  and  the  French  settlements  opposite 
the  Kanawha.  New  York  Journal,  November  26,  1791. 


602  THE   FEDEKAL   GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  vi. 

small  hamlets,  each  one  of  which  was  a  tempting  bait  to  the 
implacable  savage.  Most  of  the  settlers  were  at  Marietta, 
already  become  a  busy  town  of  eighty  houses.  Some  held 
lands  at  Belle  Prairie,  where  the  river  Kanawha  discharges 
its  waters  into  the  Ohio ;  others  had  put  up  mills  and  were 
grinding  corn  at  Duck  creek,  at  Wolf  creek,  and  along  the 
banks  of  the  Muskingum.*  A  few,  indeed,  more  daring  than 
the  rest,  had  gone  forty  miles  up  the  river,  made  a  clearing, 
and  formed  a  little  settlement  at  Big  Bottom.  Of  all  the 
hamlets  in  the  northwestern  territory,  Big  Bottom  was  the 
most  exposed.  Twenty  miles  of  wilderness  separated  it  from 
any  like  collection  of  houses.  A  dozen  families  made  up  the 
inhabitants.  It  lay  close  to  the  Indian  country.  It  was,  in 
fact,  a  solitary  outpost  of  civilization  in  a  land  of  savages. 
There  the  Indians  began  their  work.  The  evening  of  the  sec 
ond  of  January,  1791,  was  chosen  for  the  attack,  and  not  long 
after  the  sun  had  gone  down  a  shrill  whoop  from  the  neigh 
boring  thicket  announced  to  the  settlers  that  their  hour  had 
come.  They  fought  with  that  peculiar  coura,ge,  the  courage 
of  despair,  which  never  fails  to  be  displayed  when  all  hope  is 
gone,  and  which  on  many  like  occasions  has  animated  even 
weak  women  and  stripling  boys  with  the  coolness  and  intre 
pidity  of  veterans.  But  all  they  could  do  was  to  sell  their 
lives  dearly,  and  when  morning  broke,  Big  Bottom  settlement 
had  disappeared  from  the  face  of  the  earth.f 

As  the  news  of  the  massacre  spread  through  the  valley 
there  was  terror  and  agitation  in  a  hundred  homes.  There 
was  uneasiness  at  Marietta  when  it  was  remembered  that  but 
twenty  regulars  held  the  fort,  while  two  hundred  miles  sepa 
rated  them  from  the  nearest  militia.  But  the  alarm  was  great 
est  in  the  little  clearings  far  removed  from  the  river  and  the 
fort,  and  where  in  general  three  or  four  families  clustered 
round  a  mill.  It  was  believed  that  a  general  rising  had  taken 
place,  that  every  tribe  on  the  Miami  and  the  Wabash  had 
taken  the  hatchet,  that  the  settlements  were  doomed,  and  that 
Joseph  Brant,  at  the  head  of  a  great  host  of  warriors,  flushed 
with  victory  and  eager  for  scalps,  was  sweeping  'through  the 
valley.  Some,  in  their  alarm,  were  for  quitting  their  lands 

*  New  York  Journal,  February  21,  1791.  f  Ibid->  January  31,  1791. 


1790.  CONGRESS  ASSEMBLES.  603 

and  hastening  back  to  the  towns  beyond  the  mountains. 
Many,  leaving  the  goods  in  their  huts  and  the  grain  in  their 
barns,  fled  with  their  cattle  and  their  families  to  the  fort. 
Thence  Ruf  us  Putnam  dispatched  a  letter  to  Washington  beg 
ging  for  instant  help.  He  told  of  the  massacre  at  Big  Bottom, 
described  the  exposed  situation  of  the  settlements,  and  the  suf 
ferings  of  the  families  that  had  left  their  homes.  But  the  true 
misery  and  danger  of  their  lot  was  well  summed  up  in  one 
pathetic  sentence.  "  Unless,"  says  the  writer,  "  unless  Govern 
ment  speedily  sends  a  body  of  troops  for  our  protection,  we 
are  a  ruined  people." 

When  the  letter  reached  Washington  he  had  already  done 
what  he  could  for  the  protection  of  the  frontier.  He  had 
called  out  the  militia,  he  had  authorized  the  expedition  of 
Harmar,  he  had  laid  the  state  of  affairs  in  the  West  before 
Congress.  The  Houses  met  on  the  sixth  of  December,  and 
listened  to  his  address  on  the  eighth.  He  congratulated  them 
on  the  flourishing  condition  of  American  credit,  on  the  rise  of 
stock  at  home  and  abroad,  on  the  ease  with  which  a  new  loan 
of  three  millions  of  florins  had  been  obtained  in  Holland,  re 
ferred  to  the  application  of  Kentucky  district  for  admission 
into  the  Union  as  a  State,  spoke  strongly  of  the  depredations 
of  the  Wabash  tribes,  and  ended  with  some  remarks  on  the 
judiciary,  the  militia,  the  mint,  the  post-office,  and  the  post- 
roads.  The  Houses  separated.  The  representatives  returned 
to  their  own  chamber ;  the  Speaker  laid  the  address  before 
them,  and  they  proceeded  to  consider  what  answer  should  be 
returned.  All  went  smoothly  till  the  paragraph  touching  the 
Indian  affairs  was  reached.  Jackson  then  arose.  He  sat  for 
one  of  the  districts  of  Georgia,  was  a  man  of  some  ability,  a 
ready  debater,  and  in  one  sense  an  effective  speaker.  His 
speaking  has  indeed  been  well  described  by  Ames  as  a  bellow. 
But  his  views  on  all  measures  were  so  narrow,  his  feelings  so 
strongly  sectional,  and  his  temper  so  little  under  control,  that 
he  never  could  speak  ten  minutes  at  a  time  without  uttering 
something  that  put  the  House  into  an  ill-humor.  When  he  rose 
to  speak  on  the  Indian  affairs,  he  began  by  saying  that  he  was 
as  fully  impressed  with  the  importance  of  an  Indian  war,  and 
the  protection  of  the  frontier,  as  any  man.  But  it  was  his 


604:          THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.      CHAP.  vi. 

duty  as  a  Georgian  to  express  astonishment  that  the  President 
had  taken  no  notice  in  his  speech  of  the  treaty  with  the  Creek 
nation.  "  That  treaty,"  said  he,  "  has  spread  alarm  among  the 
people  of  Georgia.  It  has  ceded  away,  without  any  compen 
sation  whatever,  three  millions  of  acres  of  land  guaranteed  to 
Georgia  by  the  Constitution.  Three  commissioners,  not  one 
of  them  a  citizen  of  Georgia,  were  sent  by  the  President  to 
look  into  the  justness  of  her  claims  to  the  land  in  dispute. 
They  reported  in  her  favor,  and  what  has  been  the  result  ? 
Has  the  Government  recognized  the  rights  of  Georgia  ?  No. 
It  has  given  away  her  land,  invited  a  savage  of  the  Creek 
nation  to  the  seat  of  Government,  caressed  him  hi  a  most  ex 
traordinary  manner,  and  sent  him  home  loaded  with  favors.* 
But  it  is  said  there  are  secret  articles  in  the  treaty !  Good 
God !  are  there  to  be  secret  articles  between  the  United  States 
and  any  nation  under  heaven  ?  Treaties  by  the  Constitution 
are  the  supreme  law  of  the  land.  And  will  Congress  suffer 
the  laws  of  the  United  States,  like  those  of  Caligula,  to  be 
placed  where  no  man  can  read  them,  and  then  punish  the 
people  for  disobeying  them  ?  The  people,  sir,  will  never  sub 
mit  to  be  bound  by  secret  articles." 

At  this  stage  of  his  harangue  the  chairman  called  him  to 
order  and  asked  if  his  remarks  were  introductory  to  a  motion 
on  the  paragraph  before  the  committee.  Jackson  replied  they 
were  not,  but  that  011  some  day  in  the  near  future  he  meant  to 
bring  in  a  motion  calling  for  the  Creek  treaty,  and  its  secret 
articles  too.  He  sat  down.  The  House  heard  no  more  of  it, 
finished  their  answer,  f  and  spent  the  few  days  that  remained 
of  the  year  in  an  amicable  discussion  of  the  sale  of  western 
lands. 

*  "  The  Indian  Chief  McGillivray  is  here.  He  is  decent,  and  not  very  black." 
Fisher  Ames  to  D wight,  July  25,  1790. 

f  "  We  have  had  the  speech  from  the  throne,  have  answered  it,  and  to-morrow 
we  are  to  present  our  answer.  Both  coniain  some  divine  molasses.  Mr.  Jackson, 
of  Georgia,  yesterday  let  off  a  balloon  about  the  treaty  with  the  Creeks  .  .  ." 
Fisher  Ames  to  Thomas  D wight,  December  12,  1790. 


INDEX  TO  VOL.  I. 


A-dams,  John.  Remarks  on  definitive 
treaty,  107,  108  ;  defends  soldiers  tried 
for  Boston  massacre,  126  ;  opposes  the 
Cincinnati,  171, 172 ;  journey  from  Lon 
don  to  Amsterdam,  228  ;  seeks  a  loan 
from  the  regency,  229  ;  obtains  a  loan 
from  the  Jews,  230;  consulted  on  ordina 
tion  of  Episcopal  ministers,  230 ;  con 
sults  the  Danish  minister,  231 ;  sent 
minister  to  England,  233  ;  his  character, 
233 ;  his  audience  of  the  King,  233,  234 ; 
of  Carmarthen,  234,  235  ;  of  Pitt,  240- 
243  ;  treatment  by  Carmarthen  and  Pitt, 
243,  244  and  note  ;  urges  a  Navigation 
Actj  244-246 ;  calls  Congress  a  diplo 
matic  assembly,  391,  note;  sends  word 
of  false  coppers  coming  from  England, 
402;  breaks  up  counterfeiters  in"  Lon 
don,  403 ;  calls  on  Tripoline  ambassa 
dor,  406 ;  ludicrous  interview  with, 
407 ;  the  ambassador  calls  on  Adams, 
407,  408;  urges  the  United  States  to 
action,  409  ;  his  book,  469  ;  use  of  the 
term  "  well-born,"  409  ;  his  book  ridi 
culed,  470,  471  ;  nominated  for  Vice- 
President,  526 ;  opposed  by  the  Fed 
eral  Republicans,  527,  528 ;  and  by 
Hamilton,  528-530  ;  elected  Vice-Presi 
dent,  534 ;  Hartford  presents  him  with 
a  roll  of  cloth,  537 ;  consulted  by 
Washington  on  etiquette,  564;  dude's 
and  salary  as  Vice- President,  543. 

Adams,  Samuel.  His  character,  178 ; 
opposes  the  Cincinnati,  170,  171 ;  con 
duct  in  colonial  times,  179 ;  opposes 
commutation,  180  ;  his  sincerity,  180  ; 
opposes  the  impost  act,  202 ;  opposes 
the  Federal  Constitution,  and  won  over 
by  Boston  mechanics,  479 ;  Paul  Re 
vere' s  interview  with,  479  ;  nominated 
for  Congress  and  defeated,  531 ;  called 
"amendment-monger,"  532. 

Adams,  Mass.,  326.^' 

Advertiser,  The  Weekly.  Reprints 
Robertson's  History  of  America,  37. 

"African  Hospitality,"  an  engraving, 
14,  note. 

u  African  Slave-Trade,"  an  engraving, 
14,  note. 


Agriculture.  Products  of  Virginia, 
North  and  South  Carolina,  and  Geor 
gia,  9;  of  New  England,  10:  Society 
for  the  Encouragement  of,  at  Philadel 
phia,  299  ;  address  of  Tench  Coxe  to, 

OOQ 

Agricultural  implements,  17,  18. 

Albany.  Population  in  1786,  57 ;  com 
merce  of,  58  ;  character  of  the  citizens, 
57  ;  Dutch  customs  kept  up,  59  ;  shops, 
and  goods  sold  in  them,  59 ;  houses,  59, 
60,  and  note  ;  opposition  to  theatre,  89  ; 
fight  between  Federalists  and  Anti- 
federalists,  496. 

Albani,  Cardinal.  Surprised  that  Ameri 
cans  are  white,  225,  note. 

"  Alexander  the  Coppersmith."  Hamil 
ton  so  called,  404,  note. 

Alexandria,  Va.  Petition  to  Virginia 
House  of  Delegates,  273,  274  ;  bound 
ary  commission  meet  at,  278 ;  rejoic 
ings  at,  over  the  ratification  of  the  Con 
stitution,  492. 

Algiers,  407,  408. 

Algonkin  Indians,  594,  595. 

Alienation  Bill.  New  York  Whigs  urge 
its  passage,  119,  121. 

Allouez,  French  Jesuit,  595. 

Amboy,  N.  J.,  123. 

Amendments.  Number  proposed  by  the 
States  to  the  Constitution,  501,  note; 
by  Congress,  555  ;  number  adopted  by 
the  people,  555. 

"  Amendment-monger,"  532. 

America,  Robertson's  History  of,  37 ; 
Edinburgh  Review  on,  82  and  note. 

Ames,  Fisher.  Elected  to  Congress,  531; 
debate  on  rum  tax,  546. 

Amherst,  Mass.,  322,  323,  326. 

Amis,  Thomas.  Sends  a  fiat-boat  down 
the  Mississippi,  376 ;  Spaniards  seize 
it,  376 ;  anger  of  the  western  people, 
376,  377  ;  Clark  seizes  Spanish  property 
in  retaliation  380. 

Amsterdam.  Adams's  journey  to,  228, 
229  ;  loan  sought  of  the  regency,  229. 

Anaesthesia.     Discovery  of,  30. 

Annapolis,  Md.  Washington  resigns  his 
commission  at,  105 ;  committee  of  the 


606 


INDEX. 


States  meet  at,  209 ;  trade  convention 
of  the  States  to  meet  at,  277,  281 ;  ac 
tion  of  the  convention,  389,  390. 

Alison's  voyages,  15, 

u  Antifederal  Junto,"  460. 

Antifederalists.  The  party  in  1787, 
393  ;  monarchical  branch  of,  393,  454 ; 
secede  from  Pennsylvania  Legislature, 
456 ;  two  dragged  to  Legislature  and 
quorum  restored,  456,  457;  seceders 
put  out  an  address,  458 ;  Federalists 
reply,  459  ;  "  Antifederal  Junto,"  400; 
lose  seats  in  Pennsylvania  council, 
460 ;  objections  to  Federal  Consti 
tution,  460,  461 ;  attack  the  signers  of 
the  Constitution,  466  ,  abuse  Washing 
ton,  466,  467  ;  Antifederal  squibs,  468  : 
receipt  for  Autifederal  essay,  468 ;  call 
the  Federalists  "  well-born,"  469-471 ; 
defeat  of,  in  Philadelphia,  471,  472 ;  ob 
struct  business  in  Pennsylvania  con 
vention,  472  ;  Pennsylvania  ratines, 
473;  Antifederal  address,  473,  474; 
attack  the  Federalists  at  Carlisle,  475  ; 
burn  Wilson  and  McKean  in  effigy, 
475 ;  lose  Georgia  and  Connecticut, 
476 ;  lose  Massachusetts,  479  :  accuse 
the  postmaster  of  keeping  back  news- 

Kipers,  480,  481  ;  success  in  New 
ampshire,  484 ;  state  of  the  party  in 
Virginia,  488 ;  lose  New  Hampshire 
and  South  Carolina,  487  ;  Patrick 
Henry  leads  them  in  Virginia,  488 ; 
his  action  in  Virginia  convention,  490, 
491  ;  interrupt  Federal  rejoicings  at 
Providence,  494,  495;  at  Atbanyr496  ; 
action  in  New  York  convention,  497, 
498  ;  prevent  New  York  choosing  presi 
dential  electors  and  United  States  sen 
ators,  525  •  weakness  in  United  States 
House  of  Representatives,  567. 

"  Apollo  and  the  Muses,"  an  engrav 
ing,  14,  note. 

"  Apollo,  The,"  a  Boston  tavern,  95. 

Appalachicola  river,  a  boundary  of  the 
United  States,  371. 

Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  Refuses  to 
ordain  Americans,  231. 

Architecture,  low  state  of,  in  1784,  80. 

Arkwright.  Invents  the  spinning-jenny, 
296  ;  his  life  threatened,  296  ;  'is 
knighted,  296  ;  his  machine  not  al 
lowed  to  leave  England,  296 ;  Tench 
Coxe  attempts  to  bring  one  to  United 
States,  297  ;  Sorners  builds  one  for  Mas 
sachusetts,  297. 

Arlandes,  Marquis  d',  222. 

Armistice,  the,  240,  241. 

Armstrong,  James.  Receives  a  vote  for 
President  of  United  States.  535,  note. 

Armstrong,  John.  Writes  the  Newburg 
Addresses,  182  and  note  ;  treatment  of 
Wyoming  settlers,  214,  216. 

Army.  Commutation  act,  177 ;  New- 
burg  Addresses,  181,  182;  mutiny  of 
Lancaster  line,  184  ;  drives  Congress 
from  Philadelphia,  184  ;  argument 
against  a  standing  army,  185, 186  ;  dis 
banded,  186  ;  eighty  men  retained,  186, 


187 ;  requisition  on  the  States  for  seven 
hundred  men,  186 ;  Massachusetts 
raises  an  army,  318 ;  size  of  United 
States  army  in  1788,  504 ;  character  of, 
under  Harmar,  598 ;  lack  of  discipline 
in,  599,  601 ;  defeated  by  the  Indians, 
600. 

Arnold,  Joseph,  expelled  from  the  Cin 
cinnati,  577  and  note. 

Arsenal,  United  States,  at  Springfield, 
320. 

Artists  of  note  in  1784,  81  and  note,  82. 

Arts.  Low  state  of  line  arts  in  1784,  80  ; 
lack  of  paintings,  80;  Watson's  gal 
lery,  81 ;  cast  of"  Venus  de  Medici "  de 
clared  obscene,  82  ;  women  not  allowed 
to  see  nude  statues  at  Philadelphia,  82 ; 
the  u  Greek  Slave  "  at  Cincinnati,  82. 

Asbury,  Francis,  56,  57. 

Assenisipia,  a  proposed  State,  166. 

u  Assize,"  96. 

Assumption.  Hamilton  urges  assump 
tion  of  State  debts,  568,  569,  579,  580- 
583,  584,  593. 

"Assumption,  Miss,"  583,  584. 

Attorneys.     See  Lawyers. 

Bailli,  222. 

Baldwin,  Abraham.  Delegate  to  Federal 
Convention,  420. 

Balfour,  129. 

Balloon.  Invention  and  use  of,  in  1784, 
222  and  note. 

Baltimore,  Lord.     His  charter,  277. 

Baltimore,  city  of.  Description  of,  in 
1784,  83;  theatre  at,  84;  petition  for 
paper  money,  282 ;  proposed  as  seat  of 
Federal  Government,  503. 

Barbary  powers,  the.  Depredations  of,  on 
American  commerce,  361,  362;  Lamb 
and  Barclay  sent  to  make  peace  with, 
406  ;  Tripoline  ambassador  at  London, 
406^108  ;  cost  of  peace  with,  408  ;  Bar 
clay  goes  to  Morocco,  409 ;  his  com 
ments  on  the  country,  410,  411 ;  his 
audiences  of  the  Emperor,  411,  412; 
concludes  peace,  412. 

Barclay,  Thomas.  Sent  to  Africa,  406; 
goes  to  Morocco,  409^12 ;  concludes 
peace  with  the  Moors,  412. 

Barnes,  Elias.  Tarred  and  feathered  in 
New  Jersey,  123. 

Barr,  the  brothers,  build  first  stock- 
card  and  spinning-jenny  in  the  United 
States,  297. 

Barter.  In  Franklin,  264 ;  in  Massachu 
setts,  in  1786,  299;  in  Rhode  Island, 
333. 

Bassett,  Richard.  Delegate  to  Federal 
Convention,  419. 

Bayonne,  France,  made  a  free  port,  208. 

Beaver  Creek.  Settlement  at,  destroyed 
by  Indians,  384. 

Beaver-skins  used  as  money  in  Franklin, 
264. 

Bedford,  Gunning,  Jr.  Delegate  to  Fed 
eral  Convention,  419  ;  debates  in,  448. 

Benamor.  Interpreter  to  Tripoline  am 
bassador,  407. 


INDEX. 


607 


Berkshire  county,  Mass.  Convention  at 
Lenox,  309  ;  rnob  in,  309,  310,  325,  320  ; 
people  form  a  defensive  association, 
325. 

Beverly.     Spinning  machines  at,  298. 

Big  Bottom.     Indian  massacre  at,  602. 

"Bill."  A  coin  proposed  by  G.  Morris, 
197. 

4 'Birmingham  coppers,"  401  and  note, 
402 ;  "Birmingham  dollars,"  401, note. 

Bishop  of  Osnaburgh,  Duke  of  York. 
Plan  to  make  him  King  of  the  United 
States,  437  and  note. 

Bishops.  Seabury  made  Bishop  of  Con 
necticut,  33  and  note,  57  ;  Coke  and 
Asbury  made  Methodist  Bishops,  57. 

"  Bit."     Value  of,  in  1784,  23,  191. 

Blair,  John.  Delegate  to  Federal  Con 
vention,  390,  420. 

Blanchard.  Crosses  the  English  Channel 
in  a  balloon,  222,  note. 

Blount,  William.  Delegate  to  Federal 
Convention,  420. 

Boats  from  Connecticut  and  New  Jersey 
taxed  by  New  York,  404;  Kentucky 
flat-boats,  69,  note,  70 ;  voyages  down 
the  Ohio,  69 ;  periaguas,  47,  48  and 
note. 

Boats,  ferry-,  at  New  York  city,  47,  48. 

Books.  Bead  in  New  England,  14,  15 ; 
cost  of,  79  and  note ;  few  printed  in 
America,  74. 

Boston,  city  of.  State  of,  after  the  revo 
lution,.  11;  called  Trimountain,  11; 
population,  12  ;  streets,  12  ;  houses,  13  ; 
furniture  of,  14 ;  libraries,  15 ;  signs, 
16;  shops,  16;  fruits  and  vegetables, 
17  and  note;  theatre,  93,  94;  riot,  94; 
players  arrested,_  94;  and  discharged, 
95;'  threats  against  the  theatre,  95; 
theatre  built,  95 ;  reception  of  Lafay 
ette,  216,  217;  resolution  concerning 
trade,  256  ;  economical  league,  313,  314 ; 
preparations  to  defend  the  city  against 
Shays,  316,  317 ;  Lincoln  put  in  com 
mand,  317 ;  Constitutional  Convention 
meet  at,  476 ;  charges  of  the  Bos 
ton  Gazette,  479 ;  mechanics  meet  at 
Green  Dragon,  479  ;  send  Paul  Revere 
to  Adams,  479 ;  Federal  street  named, 
479  ;  Ohio  Company  formed  at  Brack- 
ett's  Tavern,  507  ;  reception  of  Wash 
ington  in  1789,  565  and  note. 

Boston  county.     Convention  of,  311. 

Boston  massacre,  12&, 

Boundary.  Of  the  United  States,  3,  371, 
372;  between  Connecticut  and  Penn 
sylvania  settled,  210  ;  between  Virginia 
and  Maryland,  277,  278,  279;  of  the 
proposed  States  northwest  of  the  Ohio, 
165,  166. 

Bowdoin.  Address  to  General  Court  of 
Massachusetts,  258 ;  proposes  to  have 
taxes  paid  in  pot-  and  pearl-ashes,  300  ; 
sends  troops  to  Springfield,  310  ;  joins 
economical  league,  314 ;  issues  warrants 
against  the  rebels,  315 ;  orders  troops 
to  Cambridge,  315 ;  raises  an  army, 
818,  319. 


Bradford's  Coffee-House.  Impost  peti 
tion  at,  367. 

Bradsford.  Addresses  South  Carolina 
planters  on  paper  money,  286. 

Branding,  101. 

Brandy  used  as  money  in  Franklin,  264. 

Brant,  Joseph,  5,  211,  602. 

Braxton.  Character  of,  274 ;  opposes  reg 
ulation  of  trade  by  Congress,  275. 

Bread.     Cost  of  an  "  assize  "  in  1784,  96. 

Brearly,  David.  Delegate  to  Federal  Con 
vention,  419;  debates  in,  442. 

Breck,  Samuel.  On  travelling  in  1784, 
46,  47,  note. 

Bridges.  None  over  Charles  river,  12 
and  note ;  ceremonies  at  the  opening  of 
Charles  river  bridge,  12,  note  ;  lack  ot 
bridges  in  1784,  46  and  note. 

Bristol,  E.  I.  Protests  against  forcing 
act,  336. 

Bristol-board.  Not  made  in  the  United 
States,  79. 

British  half-pence,  401,  402. 

Brooks,  General.  Defends  Boston  against 
Shays,  317. 

Brooklyn.  Ferries  between  New  York 
and,  47,  48,  49  and  note. 

Buffon,  222. 

Bunch  of  Grapes,  a  Boston  tavern.  Lafay 
ette's  reception  at,  217  ;  meeting  of 
Ohio  Company  at,  506. 

"  Burgoyning,"  327. 

Burgoyne,  General  John.  His  "  Maid  of 
the  Oaks,"  470. 

Burke,  ^Edanus.  Character  of,  173,  174  ; 
pamphlet  on  the  Cincinnati,  174  ;  Mira- 
beau  translates  it,  175  and  note ;  re 
plies  to,  176  and  note ;  presides  at  the 
trial  of  the  Tory  Love,  130,  note  ;  elect 
ed  to  Congress,  debates  on  slave  tax, 
553. 

Burr,  Aaron.  Use  of  cipher,  43 ;  his 
journey  to  Albany,  49. 

Burr,  Theodosia.  Extract  from  a  letter 
of,  46  and  note. 

Bussaroon.  Sent  to  settlers  on  the  Illi 
nois,  380. 

Butler,  Pierce.  Delegate  to  Federal  Con 
vention,  420  and  note. 

"  Calca."  His  paper  against  the  impost, 
145,  146. 

Cambridge,  Mass.  Bids  its  representa 
tive  in  General  Court  vote  against  the 
Cincinnati,  173;  militia  sent  to  protect 
court  at,  315. 

Campbell,  Thomas.  His  Gertrude  of 
Wyoming,  225. 

"  Campus  Martius,"  515. 

Canada.     Refugees  flee  to,  111. 

Candelabra,  14. 

Canogochegue,  585  and  note. 

Cantaloupes.  Unknown  in  1784,  97  and 
note. 

"  Capitolium,"  515. 

Cards.  Playing-cards  used  to  print  as-- 
sembly  invitations  on,  80. 

Carleton,  Sir  Guy.  Carries  off  the  ne 
groes,  116  ;  evacuates  New  York  city, 


608 


INDEX. 


117  ;    his   agent   in    Kentucky,    522, 
523. 

Carlisle,  Pa.     Antifederal  riot  at,  475. 

Carmarthen.  Adams's  interview  with, 
234.  235. 

Carroll,  John.  Delegate  to  Federal  Con 
vention,  420. 

Castries,  Marechal  de,  245. 

"Catechism,  A  Shorter."  A  political 
paper  so  called,  137,  138. 

Caucus.  Origin  of  the  word,  178  and  note ; 
Hamilton  a  great  manager  of,  528,  note. 

Cauliflower.     Unknown  in  1784,  97. 

"Cecilia,"  515. 

Censors,  Council  of,  in  Pennsylvania. 
Quarrel  of  Assembly  with,  215. 

"  Cent."  Origin  of  the  name,  195  ;  value 
of,  199  ;  cents  and  half-cents,  403  ;  trial 
cent  of  1792,  404,  note ;  cent  of  1793, 
404,  note. 

Chamber  of  Commerce  (New  York  city). 
Address  on  the  impost,  270,  271 ;  cir 
cular  to  the  States,  271 ;  to  the  counties, 
271,  272  ;  opposes  paper  money,  293. 

Champerty.  Bill  to  restrain  practice  of, 
in  Massachusetts  304. 

Champlain,  Samuel,  594. 

Change.  Scarcity  of  small  change,  194 ; 
in  1830,  189. 

Charles  1.  of  England,  200. 

Charleston,  S.  C.  Merchants  complain 
of  the  presence  of  British  factors,  255  ; 
treatment  of  the  refugees,  129  ;  "Hint 
Club"  at,  287 ;  attempts  to  force  paper 
money,  287. 

Charlestown,  Mass.  Bridge  at,  debated, 
12 ;  built  by  Cox,  12,  note. 

Chase,  208. 

Chastellux,  Marquis  de.  Praises  James 
Wilson,  421. 

Cheever's  Accidence,  24. 

Chequin.     Value  of,  190,  note. 

Cherokees,  157,  384;  Sevier  destroys 
their  towns,  385. 

Cherronesus.     A  proposed  State,  165. 

Chillicothe,  Ohio,  562. 

China.  Ignorance  of  Americans  regard 
ing,  260  ;  first  voyage  of  an  American 
ship  to,  261,  262. 

Chipman,  Nathaniel,  352,  353. 

Chippewas,  384,  597. 

Chronicle,  The  Independent,  on  the  Cin 
cinnati,  172. 

Church,  Dutch,  in  New  York  city,  56. 

Church  of  England.  Hatred  of,  in  New 
England,  33  and  note. 

Church,  Episcopal.  Bishop  for,  in  Con 
necticut,  33  and  note,  57  ;  difficulty  of 
procuring  ordination  of  ministers  for, 
230,  231 ; 

Church,  Methodist.  56,  57. 

Cincinnati,  city  of.  Old  name  Losanti- 
villc,  148  ;  settlement  of,  148.  note,  516, 
517,  note ;  centre  of  population  near, 
562 ;  "  Greek  Slave  "  at,  82. 

Cincinnati,  The  Order  of  the.  Forma 
tion  of,  167  ;  popular  anger  at,  168, 169  ; 
Franklin  ridicules  it,  169,  170;  Samuel 
Adams  opposes  it,  170,  171 ;  John 


Adams  opposes  it,  171, 172  ;  Independ 
ent  Chronicle  on,  172 ;  General  Court 
of  Massachusetts  opposes  it,  173  ;  Rhode 
Island  disfranchises  the  members,  173  ; 
pamphlet  by  Burke,  173  ;  Mirabeau'a 
pamphlet,  175 ;  the  Order  in  France, 
175 ;  Camille  Desmoulins  and  the  Or-- 
der,  176  and  note :  replies  to  Burke' a 
pamphlet,  176  ana  note;  Joseph  Ar-. 
nold  expelled  from.  577  and  note. 

City  Tavern,  Philadelphia.  Lafayette 
puts  up  at,  218. 

Clark,  General  Eogers.  Clarksville 
named  from,  149 ;  opposes  closing  the 
Mississippi,  379  ;  commands  garrison  at 
Vincennes,  379  ;  leads  Wabash  expedi 
tion,  386;  its  failure,  386,  387;  letter 
to  Governor  of  Georgia,  388 ;  denies 
his  conduct.  389  ;  Virginia  disavows  his 
conduct  at  Vincennes.  389. 

Clark.  Quells  riot  at  Rutland,  Vt.,  354, 
355. 

Clarksburg,  centre  of  population  at,  562. 

Claverack,  N.Y.,25. 

"Clermont,  The,"  50. 

Clinton,  George.  Acts  against  Massachu 
setts  rebels,  328  ;  character  of,  369  ; 
refuses  to  call  Legislature  to  consider 
impost,  370 ;  opposes  the  Constitution 
in  New  York,  497,  498  ;  issues  letter  to 
the  States  calling  a  new  convention  to 
amendthe  Constitution.oOO;  nominated 
for  Vice-President  by  Federal  Repub 
licans,  527,  528 ;  receives  three  votes, 
535.  note. 

Clipping  of  coin,  192  and  note,  193. 

Clocks,  14. 

Clubs.  Pumping  Club  and  Smoking 
Club,  255 ;  Hint  Club,  287. 

Clymer,   George.      Delegate  to  Federal 
Convention,  421 ;  moves  a  State  con 
vention  in  Pennsylvania  Assembly, 455. 
I  Coffee,  tax  on,  143. 

Coins.  In  circulation  in  1784,  190  and 
note,  191 ;  counterfeit,  191  ;  clipping, 
192  and  note,  193 ;  in  circulation  in 
1830,  189  ;«  names  of  coins  proposed  by 
Morris,  196,  197,  199,  note ;  names  of 
those  proposed  by  Jefferson,  198  ;  coins 
in  circulation  hi  New  York  in  1787, 
401 ;  cost  and  profit  of  counterfeiting, 
402  ;  coppers  to  a  Jersey  shilling,  402 ; 
Congress  orders  coins  to  be  struck  in 
1785,  403  ;  forbids  foreign  coins  to  cir 
culate  in  United  States,  403;  coins 
struck  in  1793,  404,  note. 

Coinage.  Plan  to  strike  copper  in  1779, 
194;  Morris's  plan  for,  in  1782,  195; 
decimal  ratio  proposed,  196 ;  unit  to 
be  the  Spanish  dollar,  196 ;  pieces  to 
be  struck,  196, 197  ;  Jefferson's  plan  in 
1784, 196  ;  coinage  act  of  1785,  403  ;  na 
tional  currency  act  of  1786,  403  ;  Frank 
lin  penny,  403,  note  ;  United  States 
Mint  and  "coinage  of  1793,  404,  note. 

Coke,  Thomas.  First  Bishop  of  Method 
ist  Church  in  America,  57. 

Collect  Pond  (New  York  city),  54. 

Colonies,  The.    Population  of,  in  1775,  8. 


INDEX. 


609 


**  Columbia,  Miss."  A  satire  on  the 
United  States,  250. 

Commerce.  Ruinous  state  of,  204,  205  ; 
prosperous  state  of,  before  the  war,  205, 
206  ;  complaint  against,  in  Massachu 
setts,  301  ;  depredation  of  Barbary 
powers  on,  361,  362. 

Committee  of  the  States.  Power  of,  209  ; 
adjournment  of,  210. 

Committees  of  Congress,  Grand.  On  new 
States,  165,  166;  on  impost,  140;  on 
commerce,  207,  208 ;  on  finance,  358, 
359  ;  on  regulation  of  trade,  360,  361. 

*'  Common  Sense."  Fame's  pamphlet, 
152,  153. 

Commutation  Act.  Its  character,  177: 
anger  of  the  people  at,  178 ;  Samuel 
Adams  opposes,  178 ;  the  Middletown 
convention,  180  ;  Noah  Webster  de 
fends  the  bill,  180. 

Concord,  N.  H.  Convention  of  malcon 
tents  at,  344,  345. 

Concord,  Mass.  Militia  called  out  to  pro 
tect  court  at,  307  ;  order  revoked,  308; 
malcontents  break  up  court  at,  308, 309  ; 
again  meet  at,  315. 

Confederation.  The  Articles  of,  131; 
complaints  against,  134,  135  ;  Massa 
chusetts  recommends  revision  of,  258 ; 
delegates  refuse  to  submit  recommen 
dation  to  Congress,  258,  259 ;  provide 
three  ways  of  raising  a  revenue,  358  ; 
Federal  Convention  to  amend,  277,  281, 
389,  390. 

Congress.  Meets  1784 ;  ratifies  the  defini 
tive  treaty,  107 ;  treatment  of,  by  the 
States,  130,  131 ;  system  of  representa 
tion,  131 ;  slim  attendance,  132 ;  con- 
tempt  of  the  people  for,  133  and  note;  | 
appeals  in  behalf  of,  133,  135 ;  plea  of 
Yorick  for,  135,  136 ;  weakness  of,  138, 
139  ;  proposes  to  sell  western  lands,  140  ; 
proposes  an  impost,  140-143  ;  asks  for 
supplementary  funds,  143  ;  issues  an  ad 
dress,  144  ;  remarks  of  "  Rough  Hew 
er,"  147;  the  commutation  bill,  177; 
driven  from  Philadelphia,  184 :  adjourns 
to  Princeton,  184  ;  anger  of  the  people  \ 
at,  184.  185 ;  reduction  of  the  army, 
185  ;  disbands  the  army,  186  ;  call  for 
troops,  187  ;  coinage  act.  195, 197  ;  makes 
the  Spanish  dollar  a  money  unit,  200  ; 
first  recess.  200;  decline  of  authority 
of,  201,  202 ;  adjourns  to  meet  at  Tren"- 
ton,  204 ;  report  of  committee  on  com- 
merce2  204,  208  ;  announcement  of  free 
ports  in  France,  208,  209  ;  salaries  of 
ministers  cut  down,  209  ;  accepts  Frank 
lin's  resignation,  209 ;  Jefferson  made 
minister  to  France,  209  ;  Treasury  put 
in  commission,  209,  251 ;  committee  of 
the  States,  209,  210;  New  York  city 
chosen  as  place  of  residence  of,  220  ; 
assembles  at  New  York,  250;  Knox 
made  Secretary  of  War,  251 ;  plan  for 
a  Federal  city,  251-253  ;  slavery  ques 
tion,  253  ;  report  of  voyage  of  ship 
Empress,  261,  262 ;  urges  North  Caro 
lina  to  cede  western  lands,  262 ;  Mas- 

VOL.  i. — 40 


sachusetts  introduces  a  bill  forbidding 
members  appointing  themselves  to  of 
fice,  265,  266  ;  report  on  finances,  358, 
359 ;  report  of  Rufus  King,  359,  360  ; 
revenue  system  urged,  369  ;  acts  of  the 
States  in  regulation  of  trade  examined, 
361 ;  New  Jersey  refuses  her  quota, 
363 ;  committee  sent  to  reason  with, 
365  ;  committee  to  instruct  Jay,  371 ; 
Jay  recommends  closing  the  Missis 
sippi,  377  ;  debates  on,  378,  379  •  King 
prevents  Congress  recommending  a 
State  convention,  390,  399 ;  orders  two 
coins  struck,  403  ;  ordinance  for  nation 
al  coinage,  403 ;  forbids  foreign  coins 
circulating,  403  ;  United  States  Mint, 
404,  note  ;  Mississippi  affairs,  414^16: 
chooses  day  for  meeting  of  presidential 
electors,  502  ;  selects  New  York  city  as 
the  seat  of  the  Federal  Government, 
503^;  report  on  the  army,  503,  504  ; 
ordinance  for  laying  out  western  lands, 
508 ;  slavery  forbidden  in  the  new 
State,  508 :  Ohio  Company's  petition 
to  buy  land,  507,  510 ;  Scioto  Company, 
510-513 ;  ordinance  for  sale  of  land  to 
Ohio  Company,  513,  note. 

Congress  of  the  United  States.  First 
Congress,  first  session. 

House  of  Representatives.  Day  of 
meeting,  502 ;  organizes,  534 ;  debate 
on  titles,  540-543 ;  pay  of  members, 
543 ;  anger  of  the  people  at,  543,  544, 
584,  585;  debate  on  revenue  system, 
545-549,  550,  551 ;  debate  on  slave  tax, 
552-554 ;  on  abolition  of  slavery,  578, 
579 ;  on  seat  of  Government,  555-561, 
581,  582;  debate  on  funding  and  as 
sumption,  571-576,  579-583 ;  adjourns, 
587 ;  anger  of  the  people  at  the  re 
moval  of  Congress  from  New  York, 
584-587. 

Senate.  Day  of  meeting,  502  ;  New 
York  not  represented  in/ 525;  counts 
the  electoral  vote,  534 ;  debate  on  titles, 
542. 

Connecticut.  Value  of  English  money 
int  23;  Bishop  for,  33  and  note,  57; 
prisons  of,  99  ;  treatment  of  Tories, 
116;  land  claim  of,  210;  settlers  in 
Wyoming,  210-216;  women  of  Hart 
ford  form  an  economical  league,  314, 
315  ;  Governor  orders  Massachusetts 
rebels  to  be  seized,  328  ;  grants  impost, 
359 ;  sends  delegates  to  Federal  Con 
vention,  394 ;  debates  on  sending  delc- 
fates,  395-397  ;  wood  boats  from,  taxed 
y  New  York,  404 ;  retaliation  of  New 
London  merchants,  404;  ratifies  the 
Constitution,  476  ;  electors  of,  vote 
against  Adams  for  Vice-President,  529  ; 
election  of  congressmen  in,  530. 

Connolly,  Colonel.  Agent  of  Dorches 
ter  in  Kentucky,  522  ;  tricked  by  Gen 
eral  Wilkinson,  523. 

Constitution,  The.  For  framing  of,  see 
Federal  Convention,  432^52;  Penn 
sylvania  calls  convention  to  consider, 
455  ;  debate  on  calling  it,  455 ;  seces- 


610 


INDEX. 


sion  of  minority,  456 ;  anger  of  the 
Federalists,  456,  457 ;  address  of  mi 
nority,  458  ;  reply  of  Federalists,  459  ; 
objections  to  Constitution,  460,  461  ; 
Federal  replies  to  objections,  461-463 ; 
Pennsylvania  convention  meets,  472  ; 
ratifies,  473 ;  address  of  minority,  472, 
473  ;  Delaware  ratifies,  474 ;  New  Jer 
sey  ratifiesj  474 ;  riot  at  Carlisle,  475  ; 
Georgia  ratifies,  475  ;  Connecticut  rati 
fies,  476  ;  character  of  Massachusetts 
convention.  477  ;  debates  in,  477,  478  ; 
charges  of  bribery,  479  ;  Massachusetts 
ratifies,  479  ;  called  in  New  York  "  The 
Gilded  Trap,"  482  ;  The  Federalist, 
481-484 ;  New  Hampshire  convention 
adjourns,  484 ;  Maryland  ratifies,  485  ; 
South  Carolina  ratifies,  487  ;  New 
Hampshire  ratifies,  487  ;  Virginia  rati 
fies,  492 ;  popular  rejoicing  at  Alexan 
dria,  Va.,  492;  at  Philadelphia,  492- 
494 ;  New  York  ratifies,  499 ;  calls  a 
convention  to  amend,  500  ;  the  conven 
tion  meets  at  Harrisburg,  500,  note; 
burned  at  Albany,  498  ;  North  Carolina 
rejects,  501 ;  dates  of  ratification  by  the 
States,  501,  note  ;  March  4, 1789,  chosen 
as  the  day  for  establishing,  502  ;  cere 
monies  attending  its  inauguration,  533  ; 
amendments  proposed  by  Congress,  555. 

"  Consolation  for  America."  Dr.  Frank 
lin's  pamphlet,  426,  427. 

Conventions.  Middletown,  180 ;  New 
England  county  conventions  described, 
204,  205  and  note ;  convention  of 
States  called  by  Virginia,  279  ;  conven 
tion  at  Lenox,  309  ;  Middlesex,  Wor- 
cester,  and  Boston,  311,  312  ;  at  Scitu- 
ate,  336, 337  ;  East  Greenwich,  336  ;  at 
Providence,  337 :  at  Concord,  N.  H., 
344  ;  in  Vermont,  348,  349  ;  trade  con 
vention  at  Annapolis.  277,  281.  389, 
390;  Federal  Convention  at  Philadel 
phia,  281,  381,  382,  390-399,  417-423, 
436-453 ;  constitutional  convention  of 
Pennsylvania,  455-457,  472 ;  of  Dela 
ware,  474  ;  New  Jersey,  474  ;  Georgia, 
475  ;  Connecticut,  476  ^Massachusetts, 
477-479  ;  New  York,  499  ;  New  Hamp 
shire.  484,  487  ;  Maryland,  485  ;  South 
Carolina,  487 ;  Virginia,  492 ;  New 
York  calls  a  convention  to  amend  the 
Constitution,  500  and  note ;  North 
Carolina  convention,  501 ;  convention 
at  Danville,  Ky.,  163,  164;  Jonesboro, 
160. 

Cook,  James.  His  "  Voyages  "  reprinted 
in  Pennsylvania  Packet,  37. 

Cooley.    Leads  mob  at  Rutland,  Vt.,  354. 

Copley,  John  Singleton,  81  and  note. 

Coppers.  Number  to  a  dollar  in  each 
State,  in  1784,  23, 191 ;  used  to  counter 
feit  English  sixpences,  191 ;  proposed 
to  strike,  in  1779, 194, 195  ;  the  "  Five  " 
and  "  Eight,"  196, 197  ;  false,  400,  401, 
402 ;  Birmingham,  401  and  note  ;  Irish 
and  British  half-pence,  402;  number 
to  the  Jersey  shilling,  402 ;  of  1785, 
403;  foreign,  forbidden  to  circulate, 


403;  Jarvis  contracts  to  supply,  403; 
Franklin  penny,  403,  note  ;  cents  struck 
by  the  United  States,  404,  note  ;  mints 
for  striking,  589 ;  cease  to  circulate, 
590-592. 

Corn.  Indian,  price  of,  in  1784.  96 ; 
sweet,  unknown,  97  ;  introduced  into 
France,  225 ;  ignorance  of  English  re- 

garcling,  225,  note, 
lorn-cob,"  225,  note. 

Cotton.  Only  grown  in  gardens,  62' 
seizure  of  eight  bags  sent  to  Liverpool 
in  1784,  62. 

Counterfeiting  of  coins  in  1784, 191,  note, 
192;  of  otter-skin  money  of  Franklin, 
265  ;  of  moidores,  400 ;  French  guin 
eas,  400 ;  dollars,  400  ;  English  gu^n- 
eas,  400  ;  "  rap  half -pence,"  400  ; 
Birmingham  and  Jersey  coppers.  401, 
402 ;  counterfeit  coppers  sent  from 
England,  402,  403  ;  paper  money  of 
the  States  counterfeited  at  London, 
403. 

Courts.  Bill  to  open  the  courts  of  Massa 
chusetts  to  all  persons  of  good  charac 
ter,  304 ;  court  interrupted  at  North 
ampton,  '  306  ;  at  Worcester,  306,  307  ; 
at  Concord,  308,  309  ;  at  Great  Barring- 
ton,  310  ;  Supreme  Court  at  Springfield 
threatened,  310  ;  complained  of  by 
Massachusetts  conventions,  312 ;  Court 
of  General  Sessions  interrupted  at 
Worcester.  313 ;  court  at  Cambridge 
threatened,  315  ;  complained  of  in  Ver 
mont,  348,  350  ;  court  at  Rutland  inter 
rupted,  350,  351.  353,  354;  at  Windsor, 
351  ;  complained  of  in  New  Hampshire, 
343,  344. 

Court,  the  General,  of  Massachusetts. 
Bill  to  regulate  the  theatre,  93,  95.  note  ; 
condemns  the  Cincinnati,  173 ;  bill  to 
regulate  lawyers'  fees,  304 ;  rejects 
paper  money,"  304  ;  tender  act,  312. 

Cox.  Builds  bridge  over  Charles  river, 
12  ;  is  called  to  Ireland  to  build  bridge 
at  Londonderry,  12,  note. 

Coxe,  Tench.  The  lather  of  American 
cotton  industries,  296,  297  ;  attempts  to 
bring  models  of  Arkwright  machine  to 
America,  297  ;  address  before  Society 
for  Encouragement  of  Agriculture,  298, 
299  ;  letters  on  the  Federal  Govern 
ment,  467  and  note. 

"  Creed,  The,  of  every  Federalist,"  469. 

"  Crisis,  The."  Paine's  pamphlets,  153, 
154. 

Criminals.  Mode  of  punishing,  100,  102; 
sufferings  of,  in  the  jails,  100,  101. 

Crittcnden.     Governor  of  Vermont,  sup-/ 
ports   the  Massachusetts  rebels,   329;' 
address  on  grievances,  349,  350. 

Crowell,  Thomas.  Tarred  and  feathered 
in  New  Jersey,  123. 

Crown.  A  coin  proposed  by  Morris,  197, 
199.  note. 

"  Crying  Billy,"  112,  note. 

Cunningham,  129. 

Customs.  Implanted  teeth,  65,  66  ;  sin 
gular  table  manners,  67  ;  dances  on  the 


INDEX. 


611 


Ohio,  66.  note ;  assemblies,  66 ;  Dutch, 

kept  at  Albany,  59. 
Cutler,   Manasseh.     Remarks  on  steam 

navigation    in    the  West,   412,   note ; 

made  director  of  Ohio  Company,  507 ; 

his  labors  in  behalt  of,  508-513 ;  uses 

a  screw  propeller,  515,  note  ;  pamphlet 

on  the  West,  514,  515,  518,  note. 
Cipher.     Custom  of  writing  letters  in, 
.43  and  note. 

Dalton,  Mass.,  326. 

Dalton  seizes  Spanish  property  at  Vin- 
cennes,  380. 

Dances,  66  and  note. 

Dane,  Nathaniel,  399. 

Danville,  Ky.,  convention  at,  163,  164. 

Dates  of  ratification  of  the  Constitution 
by  the  States,  501,  note. 

Davie,  William,  420. 

Day,  Luke.  Commands  mob  at  Spring 
field,  320 ;  letter  to  Shays,  321  ;  at 
Marlborough;  Vt.,  330,  note. 

Days.     Auspicious,  486. 

Debt.  The  national,  in  1784  and  1865, 
139  and  note  ;  in  1786,  356  ;  amount  of 
foreign  and  domestic,  356,  no^e  ;  first 
instalment  of  principal  due  in  1787, 
357  5  ways  of  paying,  358,  359  ;  amount 
of,  in  1790,  568";  Hamilton's  plan  for 
funding,  508-570  ;  history  of  national 
debt  to  1865,  572-574. 

Debtors.  Imprisonment  of,  98  ;  suffer 
ings  in  the  jails,  98,  99,  note ;  great 
number  in  New  Hampshire  in  1786, 
343. 

Debts,  owed  by  Americans  to  English 
men.  Adams  presents  the  matter  to 
Carmarthen,  235,  236  ;  views  of  Ameri 
cans,  236-238;  of  British,  238,239; 
Adams  presents  the  matter  to  Pitt,  240, 
241  ;  confiscation  of  British,  107  ;  pub- 
lie  and  private,  in  Massachusetts,  300. 

Decimal  system  of  coinage,  195-198. 

Deer-skins  used  as  money  in  Franklin, 
264. 

DeKalb.  His  son  seeks  membership  in 
the  Cincinnati,  176. 

Delaware.  Value  of  P^nglish  money  in, 
23;  criminal  code  of,  100;  no  repre 
sentation  in  Congress,  132  ;  grants  im 
post,  357  ;  sends  delegates  to  Federal 
Convention,  391 ,  note ;  ratifies  the  Con-  ; 
stitution,  474. 

Delaware  Indians,  211,  597. 

Delegates  to  Federal  Convention.   Sketch  i 
of,  418-423  ;  number  of  speeches  made 
by,  421,  note. 

Denman,  Matthias.  Buys  site  of  city  of 
Cincinnati,  516. 

Denmark.  Offers  to  ordain  Episcopal 
ministers,  231. 

Denning,  William,  209. 

Departments  of  State,  War,  and  the 
Treasury,  created,  555. 

Depreciation  of  paper  money  in  Penn 
sylvania,  285  ;  in  North  Carolina,  286 ; 
efforts  to  prevent  at  Charleston,  S.  C., 
286,  287  ;  in  Georgia,  288,  289  ;  at  New 


York  city,  293  ;  in  New  Jersey,  294  ; 
in  Rhode  Island,  332,  339  and  note. 

Desmoulins,  Camille,  and  the  Cincinnati, 
176  and  note. 

De  Saussure,  Daniel.  Addresses  South 
Carolina  planters,  286,  287. 

Dickinson,  John.  President  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  refuses  to  protect  Congress,  184 
and  note  ;  appeal  in  behalf  of  Wyoming 
settlers,  212;  commissioner  to  lay  out 
Federal  city,  253 ;  anecdote  of,  274 ; 
delegate  to  federal  Convention,  419. 

Dilworth's  speller,  24. 

Discrimination  Bill,  121. 

"Dimes,"  or  "Dismes,"  403,  404,  note. 

Doctors.  Education  of,  27,  28 ;  difficulty 
of  getting  subjects  to  dissect,  28  and 
note  ;  country  practice  of,  29. 

"Doctors'  Mob,"  28,  note. 

"  Doit,"  a  coin  proposed  by  Morris,  199, 
note. 

Dollar,  The  Spanish.  Number  of  pence 
and  shillings  in,  23, 191 ;  recommended 
as  a  money  unit,  196,  197  ;  adopted  as 
a  unit,  200  ;  counterfeit,  400  ;  "  Bir 
mingham,"  401,  note. 

Doubloon,  value  of,  191. 

"  Double  tenth,"  a  coin  proposed  by  Jef 
ferson,  198. 

Dress  of  farmers.  18,  19,  note;  of  men  of 
fashion,  65 ;  or  women,  65,  66 ;  of  la 
borers,  97. 

u  Ducat,"  value  of,  190,  note. 

Duelling,  71,  note. 

Duer,  William.  Character  of,  483  ;  con 
tributes  to  the  Federalist,  483  ;  rela 
tions  with  Ohio  Company,  509  and 
note,  511  and  note,  512,  513,  note. 

Dunkirk,  208. 

Dutch.  Language  at  New  York  city,  55 ; 
customs  of  Cnurch,  56 ;  trade  with, 
205. 

Eagles  and  half-eagles,  404,  note. 

Ear-clipping,  101. 

East  Greenwich,  R.  I.  Convention  at, 
336. 

Edging,  silk  lace,  made  at  Ipswich, 
299. 

Edinburgh  Review.  Article  on  America, 
82  and~note. 

Education  of  New  England  women,  15 ; 
of  doctors,  27,  28. 

Egg-plant,  unknown  in  1784,  97. 

"Eight,"  a  com  proposed  by  Jefferson, 
196,  197. 

Electoral  vote  in  1789,  534,  535  and  note. 

Electors,  Presidential.  Day  for  choosing, 
502;  none  chosen  by  New  York,  525; 
choice  of,  in  New  Hampshire,  525,  526 ; 
in  Maryland,  526  ;  in  Virginia  and  Mas 
sachusetts,  526 ;  Hamilton  urges  Con 
necticut  electors  to  vote  against  Adams, 
528,  529  and  note. 

Ellicot,  Andrew,  434. 

Ellsworth,  Oliver.  Treasury  commis 
sioner,  209 ;  delegate  to  Federal  Con 
vention,  419 ;  debates  in  convention. 
448. 


612 


INDEX. 


»«  Empress,  The  ship.  Account  of  voyage 
of.  to  China,  259-262. 

England.  Preliminary  treaty  with,  103  ; 
definitive  treaty  with,  103,  104;  secret 
article  with,  372  ;  Adams  sent  minister 
to,  233-235,  240-244 ;  holds  the  posts 
on  the  frontier,  234,  240 ;  supplies  the 
Moors  with  ships,  411 ;  feeling  in,  to 
ward  America,  225,  226,  245,  246. 

English  coins  in  America,  190,  191,  400- 
403. 

Engravings,  colored,  14,  note. 

Episcopalians.  Hatred  of,  in  New  Eng 
land,  33  and  note;  tolerate  dissenters 
in  Virginia,  33 ;  generally  Tories,  34 ; 
difficulty  of  obtaining  ordination,  230, 
231 ;  Franklin  on  the  subject,  231,  232 ; 
suit  of  the  ministers  in  Virginia,  489. 

Epple's  Tavern,  581. 

"Essay,  Receipt  for  an  Antifederal," 
468. 

Etiquette.     Presidential,  563,  564. 

Evans,  Oliver,  50. 

Ewina:,  433,  509  and  note. 

Excise,  331. 

Executive,  The.  Debates  on,  in  the  Fed 
eral  Convention,  441-446,  451. 

Exeter,  Vt.    Mob  at,  345-347. 

Fabius,  The  American.  A  popular  name 
for  Washington^  103. 

"Familiar  Questions."  A  paper  ad 
dressed  to  the  refugees,  114. 

Faneuil  Hall,  93,  217. 

Farms.  Condition  of  New  England,  17, 
18. 

Farmers.  Dress  of,  18,  19,  note;  educa 
tion  of,  19  ;  inquisitiveness,  19  ;  politics 
and  religion,  20  ;  support  paper  money 
in  Rhode  Island,  333 ;  refuse  to  bring 
produce  to  market,  333,  334. 

Federal.     Popularity  of  the  word,  494. 

Federal  city,  203,  251,  252,  253. 

Federalists,  The.  Origin  of  the  party, 
454 ;  attempt  to  call  a  convention  in 
Pennsylvania,  455-457  ;  reply  to  Anti- 
federal  address,  459  ;  to  Antifederal  ob 
jections  to  the  Constitution^  461-463 ; 
meeting  at  State-House  in  Philadelphia, 
463, 464 ;  Federal  squibs,  467, 468  ;"  re 
ceipt  for  Antifederal  essay,"  468  ;  "  po 
litical  creed  of  every  Federalist,"  469  ; 
called  "well-born,"  469;  origin  of 
term,  469-471 ;  ratify  the  Constitution 
in  Pennsylvania,  473;  rejoicings  at 
Philadelphia,  473  ;  ratify  tlie  Constitu 
tion  in  Delaware  and  New  Jersey, 
475;  rejoicings  at  Carlisle  disturbed, 
475 ;  Wilson  and  McKean  burned  in 
effigy,  475 ;  ratify  the  Constitution  in 
Connecticut  and  Georgia,  476  ;  in  Mas 
sachusetts,  479 ;  rejoicings  in  Boston, 
479  ;  defeated  in  New  Hampshire,  484, 
485 ;  ratify  in  Maryland,  485  ;  in  South 
Carolina  and  New  Hampshire,  487  ;  the 
party  in  Virginia,  488,  490-492 :  ratify 
in  Virginia,  492  ;  rejoicings  at  Alexan- 
dria;  492;  and  Philadelphia,  492-494; 
rejoicings  interrupted  at  Providenoe, 


494,  495 ;  and  at  Albany,  496 ;  action 
in  New  York  convention,  498,  499 ; 
ratify  in  New  York,  499 ;  rejoicings  at 
New  York  city,  499;  Federalists  attack 
New  York  Journal  office,  499,  500; 
contest  for  electors  in  New  York,  525  ; 
secure  the  control  of  Congress,  567. 

"  Federalist,  The."  Origin  of,  481 ;  Madi 
son,  Jay,  and  Duer  contribute  to,  483, 
484 ;  opinion  of  the  people  on,  484  and 
note. 

Federal  Convention,  The.  Call  for,  389 ; 
Virginia  approves,  381,  382 ;  election 
of  delegates,  390,  391  and  note,  392,  394, 
398 ;  debate  in  Connecticut  Legislature 
on,  394-397  ;  New  York  moves  a  con 
vention  of  States  in  Congress,  399,  Mas 
sachusetts  does  the  same,  399 ;  Federal 
Convention  approved  by  Congress,  399  ; 
members  begin  to  assem  ble,  417 ;  sketch 
of  members,  419-423;  delegates  wit 
ness  trial  of  Fitch's  steamboat,  434; 
rumors  of  the  doings  of  the  convention, 
436, 437  ;  members  deny  they  are  form 
ing  a  monarchy,  437  ;  the  Virginia  plan, 
438,  439;  the  South  Carolina  plan, 
439 ;  debates  on  Virginia  plan,  440- 
444 ;  the  New  Jersey  plan,  444 ;  Vir 
ginia  and  New  Jersey  plans  compared, 
445 ;  New  Jersey  plan  rejected,  446 ; 
Virginia  plan  accepted,  446 ;  debates 
on  representation,  441-443,  446-451 ; 
debates  on  the  Executive,  441-446 ;  on 
choice  of,  451 ;  powers  of  the  delegates, 
443, 444 ;  the  Constitution  framed,  452  ; 
signing  by  the  members,  452 ;  address 
of  Franklin,  452;  Journal  committed 
to  Washington,  453. 

Federal  Hall,  532. 

Federal  hat,  494. 

Federal  Republicans,  527,  528. 

Federal  street,  Boston,  479. 

Fees.  Bill  to  regulate  attorney,  304; 
judges',  complained  of  in  Massachu 
setts,  306. 

Ferries.  Dangers  of,  at  New  York,  46 
and  note,  47  and  note,  48  and  note. 

Ferry-boats.     Description  of,  47,  48. 

Ferry,  Gray's,  417,  435,  note,  538. 

Fever.  "  Independence,"  114 ;  yellow, 
30 ;  Genesee,  60. 

Few,  Colonel,  420,  510  and  note. 

Filson,  John.  Originates  "  Losantiville," 
148,  note,  516. 

Findley,  William.  Opposes  theatre  in 
Pennsylvania  Assembly,  91,  92;  op 
poses  the  Constitution,  459  ;  one  of  the 
"Junto,"  460;  delegate  to  Pennsyl 
vania  convention,  471. 

Fishery.     State  of  Massachusetts,  301. 

Fitch,  John,  50 ;  character  of,  432,  433 ; 
invents  a  steamboat,  433  ;  seeks  aid  or 
Congress,  433 ;  of  Gardoqui,  433 ;  ob 
tains  a  patent  from  New  Jersey,  433 ; 
forms  a  company  at  Philadelphia,  433 ; 
is  joined  by  Voight,  434 ;  tries  his  boat 
on  the  Schuylkill,  434,  note;  on  the 
Delaware,  434 ;  dispute  with  Kumsey, 
435,  note. 


INDEX. 


613 


Fitzsimmons,  Thomas,  420. 

"  Five,"  a  proposed  coin,  196, 197. 

Flint  river,  371. 

Florida.  Refugees  fly  to,  111 ;  England 
covets,  371;  secret  article  in  treaty 
concerning,  372. 

Food.  Cost  of,  in  1784,  96;  kinds  un 
known  in  1784,  17,  97  ;  in  France,  225 
and  note. 

Forcing  Act.  In  Rhode  Island,  333,  336  ; 
'  protests  against,  336 ;  Legislature  re 
fuses  to  enter  protest,  337  ;  in  court, 
337-339  ;  the  Test  Oath,  339,  340  ;  re 
pealed,  340 ;  in  Georgia,  288,  289. 

Fox-skins  used  as  money  in  Franklin,  264. 

France.  State  of,  in  1784,  221,  222,  223 ; 
popularity  of  Franklin  in,  423;  free 
ports  in,  208,  209. 

Franklin,  Benjamin.  Postmaster  for  the 
colonies,  40 :  for  the  States,  40,  41 ; 
remarks  on  New  Yorkers,  55  ;  on  the 
Cincinnati,  169,  170 ;  sends  Thomas 
Paine  to  America,  152 ;  befriends  Mi- 
rabeau,  175 ;  leaves  France,  209  ;  letter 
to  Weems  on  ordination,  231,  232 ;  a 
State  called  after,  263,  note ;  letter  on 
paper  money  in  Maryland,  284,  note; 
delegate  to  Federal  Convention,  421 ; 
character,  421-423  ;  approves  Webster's 
spelling  reform,  431 ;  his  "  Consolation 
for  America,"  426,  427;  address  to 
Federal  Convention,  452,  453 ;  abused 
by  Antifederalists,  466 ;  nominated  for 
delegate  to  Pennsylvania  convention, 
472  ;  President  of  Pennsylvania,  472. 

Franklin,  John,  214. 

Franklin  penny,  403,  note. 

Franklin,  State  of  (Tennessee).  Origin 
of,  156-163,  263  ;  named  after  Benjamin 
Franklin,  263,  note;  currency  of,  283, 
264 ;  condition  of,  383,  384,  385. 

Franklin,  Temple,  418. 

Fraunces's  Tavern,  104,  527. 

Frederick  the  Great,  73,  411. 

Free  ports  in  France,  208,  209. 

"Free  Trade  and  Finance."  P.  Web 
ster's  essay  on,  284. 

Fruits,  unknown,  in  1784,  17,  97. 

Fulton,  Robert,  50. 

Funding.  Plan  for  funding  the  debt, 
569,  570 ;  debate  on,  in  Congress,  571 ; 
arguments  against,  571,  572,  574;  575, 
576 ;  Madison  moves  to  discriminate, 
576 ;  opposition  to,  576-578 ;  motion 
lost,  578,  579,  580  ;  the  bill  passes,  582, 
583  ;  popular  feeling  on,  583,  584. 

Funds.  The  supplementary,  143,  144- 
146,147;  North  Carolina 'grants,  156; 
Massachusetts  grants,  304 ;  acts  of  the 
States  regarding,  361. 

Furniture  in  1784,  14. 

Gagetown,  114. 

Gallatm,  Albert,  500,  note. 

Gardoqui,  Don  Diego.  Spanish  minister, 
374  ;  his  negotiations  with  Jay,  375  ;  in 
terview  with  Virginia  delegates,  412, 
413,  414 ;  opinions  on  the  Mississippi, 
412,  note  ;  Fitch  seeks  aid  of,  433. 


Gates.  Anecdote  of,  47,  note,  105  ;  con 
nection  with  Newburg'  Addresses,  182, 
note,  183  ;  witness  to  Rumsey's  steam 
boat  trial,  435. 

Geology.     Little  known  of,  in  1784,  25. 

Georgia.  Value  of  English  money  in, 
23  ;  illiteracy  in,  27  ;  character  of  Geor 
gia  planter,  71 ;  no  representative  in 
Congress,  132  ;  refuses  to  grant  impost, 
357  ;  sends  delegates  to  Federal  Con 
vention,  391,  note  ;  ratifies  the  Consti 
tution,  476  ;  discontent  in,  593. 

German  piece,  190,  note. 

Gerry,  Elbridge,  105  ;  action  in  Congress, 
186,  208,  258,  259,  392  ;  sent  to  Federal 
Convention,  419  ;  debates  in,  441,  452  ; 
elected  to  Congress,  531,  580. 

Gertrude  of  Wyoming,  225. 

Gervais.     Treasury  Commissioner,  250. 

"  Gilded  Trap,  The,"  482. 

Gilman,  Nicholas.  Delegate  to  Federal 
Convention,  419. 

Gold  coin,  190;  191,  198,  403. 

Goodhue,  Benjamin,  557. 

Gorham,  Nathaniel.  In  Congress,  365, 
416;  in  Federal  Convention,  419,  447. 

Granger.  Opposes  Constitution  in  Con 
necticut,  396. 

Grayson,  William.   In  Congress,  365,  508. 

Gray's  Ferry.  .Reception  of  Washington 
at,  417,  538 ;  Fitch's  experiment  at, 
435,  note. 

Great  Barrington.  Eiot  at,  309,  310,  327, 
328. 

u  Greek  Slave,"  Powers' s,  at  Cincinnati, 
82. 

Green  Dragon  Tavern,  256,  479. 

Green,  Thomas,  388,  389. 

Greene,  General  Nathaniel,  168. 

Greenleaf,  Colonel.  Sheriff  of  Worcester 
County,  313. 

"  Groat,"  a  proposed  coin,  199,  note. 

Groton,  Mass.  Shattuck  taken  at,  315, 
316. 

Grout,  Jonathan.  Elected  to  Congress, 
531,  567,  5G8. 

Guinea.  Value  of,  190,  note  ;  counterfeits 
of,  400. 

"  Gtistavus."  Remarks  on  the  impost, 
367,  368. 

Hadley.  Shays  at,  322  ;  Lincoln  at,  323, 
324,  326. 

u  Hail,  Columbia."     Origin  of,  564,  565. 

Hamilton,  Alexander.  Character  of,  125, 
126  ;  defends  the  Tories,  125,  127  ;  let 
ters  of  Phocion,  127 ;  plan  to  kill  him 
in  a  duel,  128  ;  on  revenue,  144 ;  on 
impost,  367  ;  pent  to  Federal  Conven 
tion,  419  ;  in  New  York  Assembly,  398 ; 
speeches  in  convention,  440,  444;  op 
poses  Adams  for  Vice-president,  528  ; 
sends  a  post  to  Connecticut  electors, 
528,  530;  consulted  by  Washington, 
564 ;  made  Secretary  of  Treasury,  566 ; 
plan  for  funding  and  assumption,  568- 
570j  582. 

Hamhn.     Leader  of  mob  at  Stockbridge. 


614: 


INDEX. 


Hampshire  county,  Mass.  Convention  of, 
305,  306  ;  mob  at  Northampton,  306. 

Hancock,  John.  To  be  tried  for  smug 
gling,  63 ;  stops  the  theatre  at  Boston, 
94,95;  receives  votes  forVice-President, 
535,  note ;  slight  to  Washington,  565, 
566. 

Hand-bills,  114  and  note,  120. 

Hanging  Maw,  384. 

Harinar.  Defeated  by  the  Indians,  597- 
603. 

Harper.  An  actor,  arrested  at  Boston,  94, 
95. 

Harrison,  Benjamin,  274. 

Harrison,  R.  H.,  535,  note. 

Hartford,  Conn.  League  at,  314,  315 ; 
gives  J.  Adams  a  roll  of  cloth,  537. 

Hartley,  Thomas,  556. 

Harvard  College,  25  ;  life  at,  26  and  note  ; 
medical  school,  28  and  note. 

Haskill.  Colonel,  324. 

Hatfield,  Mass.     Mob  at,  305. 

Henry ;  Patrick.  Character  of,  489,  490  ; 
declines  to  go  to  Federal  Convention, 
390.  420  ;  leads  Antifederalists  in  Vir 
ginia,  490,  491. 

Heywood,  Judge.  On  paper  money  in 
South  Carolina,  286. 

Hicks,  Elias,  44. 

Highlanders,  11  and  note. 

Hillegas.     Treasurer  of  Congress,  509. 

"  Hint  Club,"  287. 

Hlspaniola,  205. 

Hitchburn,  Colonel,  315. 

Hodgdon.  Letter  to  Pickering,  192  and 
note. 

Holland.  A  winter  journey  in,  228  ;  new 
loan  in,  230. 

Holten.     Delegate  in  Congress,  258. 

Hopkins,  Samuel.     The  patentee,  583. 

Hopkinson,  Francis.  Satire  on  Phila 
delphia  streets,  64,  note  :  his  "New 
Roof,"  467. 

Hopkinson,  Joseph.  Writes  "  Hail,  Co 
lumbia,"  565. 

Horse-racing  in  Virginia,  424. 

Houses.  Number  in  New  York  city, 
Philadelphia,  and  Boston,  in  1786,  64, 
note  ;  in  Albany,  57  ;  famous,  54,  55, 
80 ;  at  Baltimore,  83  ;  Virginia  manor-, 
72. 

Houston,  William.  Delegate  to  Federal 
Convention,  419,  420. 

Houstoun,  William.  Delegate  to  Federal 
Convention,  419. 

Howell,  Judj-e.  Decision  in  Trevett  vs. 
Weeden,  338. 

Howell.     Delegate  in  Congress,  204. 

Hubbard.  Leads  mob  at  West  Stock- 
bridge,  325,  326. 

Hudson,  N.  Y.,  58. 

Hudson  Bay  Company,  205. 

Huguenots,  11  and  note. 

Humphrey.  Speech  on  Federal  Conven 
tion,  396. 

Huntington,  S.  Receives  votes  for  Vice- 
President,  529. 

Euntino;ton,  Benjamin.  Speech  on  Fed 
eral  Convention,  394. 


Huron  Indians,  595. 

Hutchins.  Geographer  of  the  United 
States,  508,  509  and  note. 

Illinoia.     A  proposed  State,  166. 

Impost.  Congress  proposes,  141,  142 ; 
attacked  by  "  Calca,"  145,  146 ;  by 
"  Rough  Hewer,"  147 ;  granted  by  Vir 
ginia,  154;  by  North  Carolina,  156; 
character  of  its  supporters,  201  ;  of  its 
opponents,  201,  202  ;  petition  to  New 
York  Legislature  on  behalf  of,  266,  267, 
367;  remarks  of  "Sidney,"  267,  268; 
acts  of  States  relative  to,  357  ;  of  Con 
gress,  360  ;  remarks  of  "  Gustavus," 
367,  368  ;  New  York's  action  on,  370. 

Indians.  Character  of,  5-8  ;  attack  the 
frontier  towns,  384 ;  Scvier  burns  their 
towns,  385 ;  Wabash  expedition,  386, 
387  ;  Logan's  expedition  to  Mad  river, 
388 ;  treaties  with,  597 :  become  trou 
blesome  in  the  West,  597,  598  ;  Harmar 
marches  against,  598,  599  ;  is  defeated, 
599-601 ;  alarm  in  the  West,  601,  603. 

Ingersoll,  Jared,  420. 

Inns.  Apollo,  95 ;  Brackett's  Tavern,  ** 
507  ;  Bradford's  Coffee-House,  367 ; 
Bunch  of  Grapes,  217, 506  ;  City  Tav 
ern,  218  ;  Epple's  Tavern,  581 ;  "Fraun- 
ces's,  104,  527  ;  Fish-House,  581 ;  Green 
Dragon,  256,  479;  Hilton's,  496  ;  Jones's 
Tavern,  308 ;  Lilliput,  581 ;  Abraham 
Marlin's,  367;  United  States  Arms, 
307  ;  Vandewater's,  120,  367,  219,  220  ; 
Wigwam,  581. 

Inoculation,  30. 

Ipswich  trimrnmgs,  299. 

Irish  half-pence,  401. 

Irvine,  472. 

Island  Town,  385. 

Jackson,  James  (Ga.).  Action  in  Con 
gress,  542j  583,  note,  603,  604. 

Jackson,  William.  Secretary  of  Federal 
Convention,  418  ;  burns  papers  of,  453, 
note. 

"  James  do  Caledonia,"  James  Wilson 
called,  464. 

Jarvis.  Contracts  to  supply  copper  coin, 
403  and  note. 

Jay,  John.  Remarks  on  wages,  96,  note ; 
on  Cincinnati,  172,  note ;  conduct  re 
garding  the  Mississippi,  371,  375,  377, 
414-416  ;  character  of,  377  ;  contributes 
to  Federalist,  483  ;  wounded  in  Doctors' 
Mob,  28,  note ;  receives  votes  for  Vice- 
President.  529,  535,  note. 

Jefferson,  Thomas.  Plan  for  new  States, 
165;  names  for,  165,  166  and  note;  on 
ocean  voyages,  51,  note;  plan  for  na 
tional  coinage,  197-199  ;  his  plan 
adopted,  200  ;  sent  to  France,_209,  221  : 
on  French  society,  223 ;  anecdote  or 
Franklin,  226;  remarks  on  prevalence 
of  monarchical  feeling,  563  ;  Secretary 
of  State,  566,  582. 

Jenifer,  Daniel  of  St.  Thomas,  209,  420. 

Jenner,  30. 

Jersey  coppers,  402. 


INDEX. 


C15 


"  Jimmy."    James  Wilson  called,  464. 

Johannes,  or  ioe.    Value  of,  190, 191, 192. 

Johnson,  William,  419,  434. 

Johnston,  Sir  J.,  112,  note. 

Joliet,  French  Jesuit,  596. 

Jonesboro.     Convention  at,  160,  161. 

"  Joseph  Interpreting,"  an  engraving,  14, 
note. 

Jouffroi,  222. 

Journal,  The  Continental,  37. 

Journal,  The  New  York,  499,  500. 

Juniata  river,  557. 

Junius.     Letters  of,  15. 

Jury,  Grand.  Of  Philadelphia,  present 
the  state  of  the  prisons  as  a  nuisance, 
99,  note :  in  North  Carolina  urges  regu 
lation  of  trade  by  Congress,  361 ;  in 
Georgia  the  same,  361 ;  of  Charleston, 
present  duelling  as  a  grievance,  71, 
note. 

Kentucky.  Population  of,  149  and  note ; 
condition  ol,  163,  164;  separation  from 
Virginia  urged,  164 ;  protest  against 
shutting  the  Mississippi,  381-383  ; 
Clark's  Wabash  expedition,  386,  387  ; 
Logan's  expedition,  388  ;  Green's  letter 
to  Jay,  388 :  Clark  denies  knowledge 
of  it,  389;  discontent  in,  519;  Wilkin 
son's  attempt  to  open  the  Mississippi, 
520-523  ;  a  fleet  of  flat-boats  sent  to 
New  Orleans,  523,  524. 

Kentucky  flat-boats  described,  69  and 
note,  70. 

Kin^,  Rufus.  Action  in  Congress,  253, 
258,  259,  371,  390,  415,  416;  character 
of,  359  ;  report  on  impost,  360,  361 ; 
turns  Federalist,  392 ;  delegate  to  Fed 
eral  Convention,  419 ;  debates,  446, 
449. 

Kingston,  Vt.     Mob  at,  345. 

u  Know  Ye  "  men,  measures,  and  judges, 
392,  393. 

Knox,  Henry.  Washington's  adieu  to, 
104;  remarks  on  the  Cincinnati.  169, 
note,  173,  note  ;  made  Secretary  ol  War, 
251,  566. 

Laboring  classes.  Wages  of,  in  1784,  96 
and  note,  98  ;  houses  of,96  ;  cost  of  food, 
96  ;  clothing  of,  97. 

Le  Caron,  French  Jesuit,  595. 

Lafayette,  Marquis  de.  Eemarks  on  Cin 
cinnati,  172,  note  ;  thanked  by  Con 
gress,  209  ;  reception,  in  1784,  216-218. 

Lagrange,  Comte  de,  221,  222. 

La  Mayeur.     Implants  teeth,  65. 

Lamb,'  John.  Sent  to  Barbary  powers, 
406. 

Lamb,  General  John,  527. 

Lameth,  Chevalier  de,  176. 

Lancaster,  Pa. ,  184,  503. 

Lands,  Western.  Character  of  the  set 
tlers,  140;  proposal  to  sell,  140,  141; 
Virginia  cedes  her,  148,  150 ;  plan  for 
laying  out  States  in,  165  ;  names  of, 
165,  166  ;  sale  to  the  Ohio  Compa 
ny,  513;  Scioto  Company,  5132  note; 
Symmes,  515 ;  rage  for  emigration  to, 


517.  See,  also,  Ohio  Valley,  Ohio  Com 
pany,  etc. 

Land  Oifice,  555. 

Langdon,  John,  419,  534. 

Lansing.  Delegate  to  Federal  Conven 
tion,  419  ;  debates  in,  440,  446,  451. 

Lansing,  Abraham.  Leads  mob  at  Al 
bany,  496. 

Laplace,  222. 

Lavoisier,  221. 

Lawrence,  John,  560. 

Lawrence,  Mass.,  01. 

Lawyers.  Hatred  of,  in  New  York  city, 
254;  in  Massachusetts,  302,  303,  304, 
306  ;  in  New  Hampshire,  344  ;  in  Ver 
mont,  348,  349,  note,  350,  351. 

Leagues,  405,  406,  498 ;  economical,  536  ; 
in  Massachusetts,  313  ;  at  Hartford,  314. 

Lebanon,  N.  Y.     Mob  raised  at,  327. 

Lectures.  Plays  called  Moral,  at  Boston, 
94. 

Ledyard,  Isaac.     Letters  of  Mentor,  128. 

Lee,  Thomas.  Leads  rnob  at  Rutland, 
353,  354. 

Lee,  R.  H.  Comments  on  Philadelphia, 
64. 

Lee,  Henry,  379. 

Legend  for  coppers  of  1779,  194,  195. 

L' Enfant.  On  the  Cincinnati  in  France, 
167,  note  ;  architect  of  Federal  Hall,  532. 

Lenox.     Convention  at,  309. 

Lesage,  222. 

Letters,  39  ;  custom  of  writing  in  cipher, 
43  and  note  ;  transmission  ot,  40,41,  43. 

Lettuce  not  known  in  1784,  97. 

Libraries,  15. 

Light- house.  Tax  laid  by  New  Jersey 
on,  at  Sandy  Hook,  405. 

Limestone  (Maysville),  149. 

Lincoln,  Benjamin.  Resigns  office  of 
Secretary  of  War,  187  ;  commands  State 
troops  in  Shays's  rebellion,  317-319, 
322,  329  ;  receives  votes  for  Vice-Presi 
dent,  535,  note. 

Linen.  Manufacture  of,  in  Massachusetts, 
298,  299 ;  used  as  money  in  Franklin, 
264. 

Lisbon,  205. 

Literature.  Low  state  of,  74\,  75,  78 ; 
birth  of  American  men  of  letters,  76, 
77  ;  popular  novels,  78  and  note. 

Liverpool.  Cotton  seized  at,  62;  duty  on 
whale-oil  at,  63,  note. 

Livingston.  Treasury  Commissioner, 
250i 

Livingston,  William,  New  Jersey,  41-9:. 

Logan,  Benjamin.  Expedition  to  Mad 
river,  388  ;  calls  convention,  163. 

L' Orient  made  a  free  port,  208. 

Losantiville.  Old  name  of  Cincinnati, 
148,  516  ;  meaning  of,  148,  note  ;  first 
huts  at,  517  and  note. 

Lotteries.  In  Massachusetts,  297  ;  in  the 
United  States,  587  and  note,  588  and 
note. 

Louis  XVI.  Favors  the  Cincinnati,  167 
and  note,  175  ;  balls  at,  66,  note. 

Louisville,  Ky.  Balls  at,  66,  note  ;  ori 
gin  and  population  of,  148,  note. 


616 


INDEX. 


Love.     Refugee,  hung  in  South  Carolina, 

130. 
Lovel.     His  comment  on  Philadelphia, 

64. 

Lowell,  Mass.,  61. 
Lowndes,  Kawlins,  487. 
Lucas  on  "  Happiness,"  15. 
Luddington.     Leader  of  mob  in  Shays's 

rebellion,  323. 
Ludlow,  Mass.,  321. 
Lunatics,  101. 
Lynn,  Mass.,  299. 

Mad  river.  Logan  burns  Indian  towns 
on,  388. 

Madeira  wine.  Use  of,  in  1784,  142  ;  tax 
on,  142. 

Madisun,  James.  In  Congress,  144;  be 
friends  T.  Paine,  75,  note,  154  ;  on 
trade  in  Virginia,  272,  note,  273?  note, 
276  ;  suggests  Potomac  commission, 
278 ;  urges  a  trade  convention,  279 ; 
Virginia  and  Maryland  approve,  and 
name  commissioners,  280  ;  remarks  on 
paper  money,  284,  note ;  favors  Ken 
tucky  petition,  381  ;  favors  Federal 
Convention,  389,  390 ;  chosen  delegate 
to,  390  ;  on  the  Mississippi  affairs,  412, 
413,  415,  416  ;  debates  in  Federal  Con 
vention,  440,  445,  446,  448;  remarks 
on  Adams's  book,  469;  contributes 
to  The  Federalist,  482,  483;  sent  to 
Congress,  532;  action  in,  542,  545, 
576. 

Madrid,  205,  415. 

Mails.    See  Post-office. 

Manchester,  61. 

Manufactures.  Opposition  to,  269 ;  a  be 
ginning  made,  295,  296  ;  Arkwright 
machines,  296,  297,  298,  537 ;  the  first 
spinning-jenny  in  the  United  States, 
297 ;  mills  in  New  England,  298,  299. 

Marblehead,  217,  218. 

March.  The  fourth  of,  why  inauguration 
day,  502. 

Marietta,  Ohio.  Founding  of  the  city, 
515  and  note. 

Marl  borough,  Vt.,  330,  note. 

Murlin's,  Abraham.  A  New  York  tav 
ern,  367. 

Marquette,  Father,  595,  596. 

Marseilles.  208. 

Martin,  Alexander,  420. 

Martin,  Luther,  420  ;  in  Federal  Conven 
tion,  440,  449  ;  opposes  Constitution, 
485. 

Martha's  Vineyard,  63. 

"  Martyrs,  The  Lives  of  the,"  15. 

Maryland.  Value  of  English  money  in, 
23  ;  addresses  Washington,  104  ;  Poto 
mac  commission,  278  ;  joins  trade  con 
vention,  279  :  paper  money  in,  282,  284 
and  note  ;  refuses  impost,  357  ;  ratifies 
the  Constitution,  485  ;  chooses  electors, 
526. 

Mason,  George,  390,  420,  441,  451. 

Massachusetts.  Value  of  English  money 
in,  23  ;  Bishop  for,  33  and  note  ;  laws 
against  plays,  83 ;  penal  code,  100 ; 


I ;  General  Court  of,  258,  259, 
265,  266,  303, 304 ;  export  of  specie  from, 
294 ;  aids  cotton-spinning,  297,  298  and 
note,  299  ;  scarcity  of  money  in,  299  ; 
barter  resorted  to,  299 ;  population  of, 
in  1790,  300,  note;  debts  in,  300;  dis 
content  In,  300-302,  303  ;  paper  money, 
304 ;  grants  supplementary  funds,  304 ; 
county  conventions,  305,  306,  309  ; 
courts  stopped,  306-310  ;  Shays's  rebel 
lion,  310-330  ;  impost  granted,  357  ; 
lack  of  Federal  spirit,  391 ;  delegates 
to  Federal  Convention,  392  ;  convention 
to  consider  Constitution,  character  of, 
476,  477  ;  debates  on,  477,  478.  479 ; 
ratifies  the  Constitution,  479 ;  chooses 
electors,  526  ;  elects  congressmen,  531. 

Mastodon.     Bones  of,  25. 

Mayor's  Court,  N.  Y.  See  Rutgers  vs. 
Waddington. 

Maysville,  388,  516. 

McCalmont,  James.  Dragged  to  Penn 
sylvania  Assembly  by  the  Federalists, 
456. 

McClurg,  James,  420. 

McHenry,  105,  420. 

McKean,  Thomas,  475. 

Mechanics.  Resolutions  of,  at  Boston, 
256  ;  at  Savannah.  288. 

Mentor.     Letters  of,  127. 

Mercer,  John,  420. 

Merchants.  Complain  of  English  Navi 
gation  Act,  207  ;  resolutions  of  Boston, 
256  :  Chamber  of  Commerce  at  New 
York  supports  the  impost,  270-272 ; 
Virginia,  approve  impost,  272 ;  South 
Carolina,  support  paper  money,  286; 
Georgia,  do  the  same,  288,  289  ;  hatred 
of,  in  Massachusetts,  300, 301 ;  in  Khode 
Island,  333,  334 ;  are  attacked  at  New 
port,  335  ;  accused  of  exporting  specie, 
337  ;  complaints  against  English,  in 
South  Carolina,  255. 

Mesnard,  French  Jesuit,  595. 

Methodists.  Society  at  New  York  city, 
5G ;  membership  in  1782,  57 ;  separate 
from  Church  in  England,  57. 

Metropotamia.     A  proposed  State,  166. 

Michigania.     A  proposed  State,  166. 

Middlefield.     Malcontents  taken  tit,  323. 

Middlesex  county,  Mass.  Convention 
in,  312  ;  mob  in,  315,  316. 

Mifflin,  John.  His  "New  Breeches," 
467,  468. 

Mifflin.  Thomas.  Receives  resignation  ot 
Washington,  106 ;  delegate  to  Federal 
Convention,  421 ;  escorts  Washington, 
538. 

Miley,  Jacob,  456. 

Milton:  John.  Receives  votes  for  V  ice- 
President,  535,  note. 

Ministers  in  New  England.  Respect  for, 
31 ;  learning,  32  ;  hatred  of  Bishops.  33 
and  note  ;  salary,  34  and  note  ;  paid  in 
produce,  34;  generally  Tories  in  the 
South,  34. 

Ministers,  United  States.  Salary  cut 
down,  209  ;  duty  of,  in  1784,  224,  225 ; 
accused  of  luxury,  227  and  note. 


INDEX. 


617 


Mints,  404,  note,  589. 

Mirabeau.  Attacks  Cincinnati  Society, 
175  and  note. 

Miro.  Spanish  Governor  of  Louisiana,  521. 

Mississippi  river.  Spain  refuses  the  use  of, 
372  ;  opinions  in  Congress  on,  373,  374 ; 
Gardoqui  arrives,  374,  375  ;  American 
boats  seized  on  the,  376  ;  Jay  urges  the 
closing  of,  377  ;  debate  in  Congress, 
378,  379  ;  Kentucky  protests  against, 

.  381,  382,  383  ;  Greenes  letter  to  Jay, 
388 ;  Virginia  protests  against  closing 
the  river,  389;  Gardoqui  on,  412  and 
note,  413,  414;  Jay's  report,  414;  voy 
ages  down,  520,  521,  523,  524 ;  discovery 
of  the  valley  of,  594-597. 

"  Model,  The  State's,"  298. 

Moidore.  Value  of,  191 ;  counterfeited, 
400. 

Molasses.     Tax  on,  547-549. 

Monarchical  opinions.  Prevalence  of, 
563  and  note. 

Monarchy.  Kumors  of  one  being  set  up, 
437  and  note. 

Money,  189,  190,  191,  264,  265  and  note  ; 
scarcity  of,  299,  300,  301,  312,  423,  426, 
587  and  note. 

Money  unit,  22,  196,  199,  200. 

Monroe.  James,  284,  note,  371. 

Montgolfier.     Invents  the  balloon,  222. 

Moorfield,  Md.,  562. 

Morey,  Samuel,  50. 

Morocco,  407,  408  ;  Barclay  sent  to,  409  ; 
manners  and  customs,  410,  411 ;  treaty 
with,  412. 

Morris,  G.,  182,  note  ;  character  of,  188  ; 
plan  for  coinage,  189,  194-197, 198, 199 
and  note  ;  originates  word  "  cent,"  195  ; 
delegate  to  Federal  Convention,  421 ; 
debates  in,  440,  451,  452. 

Morris,  Robert.  His  house,  80 ;  remarks 
on  the  theatre,  92 ;  resigns  office  of 
financier,  187;  character  of,  187,  188; 
report  on  coinage,  197  ;  overdraws  for 
eign  loan,  222  ;  delegate  to  Federal 
Convention,  421 ;  action  on  the  resi 
dence  bill,  582  ;  anger  of  the  people  at, 
586,  note. 

Morrison.     Leads  mob  at  Windsor,  351. 

Morton,  Dr.  W.  T.  G.,  30. 

Mount  Vernon,  106,  216,  218,  278. 

Muhlenberg,  F.  A.  Speaker  of  House  of 
Representatives,  534. 

Mutiny  of  Pennsylvania  troops,  184;  ef 
fect  abroad,  229. 

Nantucket  Island.  Prosperity  of  whale 
fishery  at,  before  the  war,  63,  64,  206. 

National  Assembly  (of  France),  200,  201. 

Natchez.  The  town,  376  ;  Amis's  boat  is 
seized  at,  376. 

Navigation  Act  of  1760.  Effect  of,  205  ; 
Adams  urges  one  in  the  United  States, 
244,  245,  246  ;  threatens  Pitt  with  one, 
241,  242  ;  urged  by  New  York,  269,  270. 

Negroes.  Carried  off  by  Carleton,  116  ; 
anger  of  the  people,  117  ;  Adams  pre 
sents  the  matter  to  Carmarthen,  235 ; 
to  Pitt,  240. 


Neshaminy.     J.  Fitch  at,  433. 

New  Brunswick,  N.  J.  No  bridge  at,  46 ; 
Tories  at,  123,  124. 

Newburg  Addresses,  181, 183 ;  written  by 
Armstrong,  182,  note. 

Newburg,  N.  Y.,  58. 

Newburyport,  537,  note. 

New  England.  Commercial  prosperity  of, 
before  the  war,  205,  206  ;  treatment  of 
refugees  in,  115,  116;  treatment  of  Cin 
cinnati  in,  168-172,  173,  180. 

New  Hampshire.  Population  of,  341 ; 
paper  money,  341,  342  ;  a  tender  law 
passed,  343  ;  courts  and  lawyers  de 
nounced,  343,  344;  Concord  conven 
tion,  344,  345  ;  mob  at  Exeter,  345- 
347  ;  paper  money  requested  by  popu 
lar  vote,  347  ;  rejected  by  the  Legisla 
ture,  347  ;  value  of  English  money  and 
dollar,  23 ;  Massachusetts  rebels  com 
ing  into  the  State  ordered  to  be  seized, 
328  ;  grants  impost,  357  ;  constitutional 
convention,  484 ;  ratifies  the  Constitu 
tion,  487  ;  contest  for  presidential  elec 
tors,  525,  526. 

New  Haven.  Refugees  at,  118;  mon 
archical  feeling  of  the  people,  437, 
note ;  long  wharf  at,  589,  note. 

New  Jersey.  Treatment  of  Tories,  123, 
124;  paper  money  a  legal  tender,  293; 
depreciation  of  paper,  294 ;  grants  im 
post,  but  refuses  supplementary  fund, 
358 ;  refuses  her  quota  for  1786,  363 ; 
effects  of  that  action,  363,  364 ;  Congress 
expostulates,  365,  366 ;  the  resolution 
reconsidered,  366 ;  sends  delegates  to 
Federal  Convention,  391,  note;  New 
York  taxes  boats  of,  404 ;  lays  a  tax  on 
light-house  at  Sandy  Hook,  405  ;  gives 
Fitch  a  patent-right  to  navigate  the 
rivers,  433 ;  ratifies  the  Constitution, 
474 ;  election  of  congressmen  in,  530 ; 
value  of  English  money  in  dollars,  23  ; 
stage-coaches  in,  44,  note ;  post-offices 
in,  41,  note. 

New  Jersey's  plan  of  Federal  Govern 
ment,  444 ;  compared  with  Virginia 
plan,  444,  445;  rejected  by  the  conven 
tion,  446. 

New  London,  206  ;  merchants  at,  refuse 
to  send  goods  to  New  York,  405,  406. 

New  Orleans,  70,  520,  521,  523,  524. 

Newport,  R.  I.  Congress  invited  to,  203, 
204 :  business  stopped  by  Forcing  Act, 
333 ;  riot  at,  334,  335  ;  paper  money 
troubles,  336-339. 

New  Salem,  324. 

Newspapers.  Number  in  the  country 
in  1775,  27 ;  circulation  of,  in  Massa 
chusetts  and  Georgia  in  1775  and  1870, 
27  ;  interchanged  among  printers,  35 ; 
description  of,  36  and  note ;  not  mailable 
matter,  35, 480?  481 ;  Robertson's  "  His 
tory  of  America  "  and  Cook's  "Voy 
ages  "  reprinted  in,  37  ;  first  paper  west 
of  Alleghanies,  68,  note-  first  in  Ken 
tucky,  156,  note  ;  Antifederalists  ac 
cuse  the  postmaster  of  keeping  them 
back,  480. 


618 


INDEX. 


New  York  city.  Condition  before  the  war, 
52 ;  limits  of,  53  ;  superstitions  touching 
the  Collect  Pond,  54 ;  famous  houses, 
54;  badness  of  the  streets,  55;  Dutch 
language.  55  ;  churches  in,  50  ;  feeling 
against  the  refugees  in,  115,  118-120 ; 
meeting  at  Vandewater's,  120,  121  ; 
Whig  Society,  122  ;  evacuation  by  Brit 
ish,  163 ;  reception  of  Lafayette,  218 ; 
meeting  at  Vandewater's  on  Rutgers  vs. 
Waddington,  219,  220  ;  made  residence 
of  Congress,  220 ;  election  of  1785  in, 
253,  254 ;  petition  to  the  Legislature  to 
support  the  impost,  266,  267 ;  three 
parties  in,  268,  269 ;  petition  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  to  Legislature, 
270  ;  circular  of  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
to  the  States,  271 ;  to  counties,  271,  272 ; 
paper  party  in,  290,  291 ;  petition  of 
Chamber  of  Commerce  against  paper 
money,  293  ;  efforts  of  soft-money  men 
to  encourage  circulation  of  paper,  293  ; 
opposition  to  Constitution  in,  481,  482; 
Federal  rejoicings  at,  over  ratification 
of  Constitution,  499  ;  chosen  as  seat  of 
Federal  Government,  503  ;  Federal  Hull 
at,  532;  inauguration  of  Constitution 
at,  533  ;  Washington's  reception  at, 
539 ;  Washington's  inauguration  at, 
540 ;  the  President's  life  at,  564,  565 ; 
Common  Council  issue  money,  591  and 
note ;  removal  of  Congress  from,  585, 
586. 

New  York  State.  Paper  money,  294; 
refuses  the  impost,  357  ;  grants  it  con 
ditionally,  370  ;  refuses  it,  398  ;  sencjs 
delegates  to  Federal  Convention,  398  ; 
taxes  boats,  404 ;  ratifies  the  Constitu 
tion,  496-499  ;  calls  a  new  convention, 
500  and  note  ;  chooses  no  electors,  525. 

Ninety-Six,  S.  C.,  130. 

Non-impost  party,  201,  202,  203,  268. 

Norfolk,  Va.,  273. 

Northampton,  306. 

North  Carolina.  Money  in,  23 ;  news 
papers  in,  27  ;  cedes  lands,  155,  156  ; 
revolt  of  western  'counties,  156-163; 
paper  money  in,  285  ;  sends  delegates 
to  Federal  Convention,  391  and  note  ; 
rejects  Constitution,  501 ;  ratifies  the 
Constitution,  568  ;  discontent  in,  593. 

North  Kingston,  R.  I.,  340. 

North  Shoreham,  R.  I.,  336. 

Northficld,  Mass.,  326. 

Nova  Scotia,  108,  112  and  note. 

Novels,  popular,  in  1784,  78  and  note. 

Oath,  The  Test,  Rhode  Island,  339,  340. 

Ohio.     Origin  of  the  word,  514,  note. 

Ohio  Company,  The.  Formation  of,  505- 
507  ;  buys  land  of  Congress,  507-513, 
note  •  sends  out  settlers,  513,  514 ; 
founds  Marietta,  515  and  note ;  opposi 
tion  to,  517,  518  and  note. 

Ohio  valley.  Settlements  in,  148,  149 
and  note,  515  and  note,  516;  emigra 
tion  to,  517,  518,  note. 

Okra.     Unknown  in  1784,  97. 

Old  Tassel,  384. 


Opera-glasses,  564,  note. 

Ordination  of  Episcopal  ministers,  230, 
231. 

Orleans,  Due  d',  222. 

Ormsbee,  Elijah,  50. 

Orr,  Hugh.  His  connection  with  cotton- 
spinning,  297,  298. 

Osgood,  Samuel,  251,  566. 

Oswald,  492. 

Oswego,  N.  Y..  61. 

Otter-skins.  Used  as  money,  264 ;  and 
counterfeited,  265. 

Otto.  Letter  on  the  Mississippi,  412, 
note. 

Packet,    The     Pennsylvania.     Reprints 

Cook's  "  Voyages,"*37. 

Packet-sloops,  49,  50,  51. 

Page.     Leader  in  Shays's  rebellion,  315. 

Paine,  Thomas.  Character  of,  150-154; 
efforts  to  reward  him,  75,  note,  154 ; 
pamphlet  on  hard  money,  292,  293. 

Palaeontology  not  known  in  178?,"  25. 

Paper.     Little  made  in  1784,  79. 

Paper  money.  In  Maryland,  282,  283, 
284  and  note  ;  in  Pennsylvania,  284, 
285;  in  North  Carolina,  "285,  286;  in 
South  Carolina,  286,  287  ;  in  Georgia, 
288,  289;  in  Virginia,  289  and  note; 
in  New  York,  290,  291,  292,  293;  in 
New  Jersey,  293,  294  and  note ;  in 
Massachusetts,  304 ;  in  Rhode  Island, 
331-341  ;  in  New  Hampshire,  341,  342. 
347.  See,  also,  under  1  orcing  Act,  and 
Tender  Laws. 

Parker.    Leader  in  Shays's  rebellion,  315. 

Parker,  Josiah.  Moves  in  Congress  to 
tax  slaves,  552. 

Parkersbunr,  W.  Va.,  562. 

Parliament,'"  The  Long,  200,  201. 

Parmentier.  Introduces  the  potato  into 
France,  225. 

Parsons,  Eli.  Leader  in  Shays's  rebellion, 
320,  321,  326,  327. 

Parsons,  Samuel.  Director  of  Ohio  Com 
pany,  507,  511,  note. 

Parties.  State  of  political,  108,  note, 
136,  137,  268,  269,  393,  394,  454,  567, 
568. 

Partridgefield,  Mass.,  326. 

Passamaquoddy,  112,  114. 

Patent.  The  first  issued  by  the  United 
States,  583. 

Patterson,  Justice.  Treatment  of  Wy 
oming  settlers,  212-214,  216. 

Patterson,  Robert,  516. 

Patterson,  William.  Delegate  to  Federal 
Convention,  419  ;  debates  in,  442.  444, 
445. 

Patterson,  General.  Commands  troops 
in  Shays's  rebellion,  325,  326. 

Patriotic  societies,  289,  290,  314,  315. 

Patriotism.     Lack  of,  in  1784,  136. 

Peale,  Rembrandt,  435.  note. 

Pearle,  Colonel,  354,  355. 

Pelham,  322,  324. 

Pelisipia.     A  proposed  State,  166. 

Pence.  False,  400, 401, 402 ;  Jersey  cop 
pers,  402,  403. 


INDEX. 


619 


Pennsylvania.  Value  of  English  money 
in,  23 ;  schools  in,  26  ;  opposition  to 
theatre  in,  90-92  ;  paper  money  in,  285  ; 
puts  a  price  on  Shays,  330 ;  grants  im 
post,  357  ;  sends  delegates  to  Federal 
Convention,  420,  421  ;  ratifies  the  Con 
stitution,  473. 

Perkins.  Opposes  Federal  Convention, 
396. 

Periagua,  47,  48,  note. 

Petersham,  324,  325. 

Pettit,  371,  471. 

"Pharaoh's  Cup  Found,"  an  engraving, 
14,  note. 

Philadelphia.  Remarks  of  Lovel  and  Lee 
on,  64 ;  streets  of,  64,  note,  65 ;  assem 
blies  at,  66 ;  opposition  to  theatre,  86, 
87,  90-92;  state  of  prisons,  99  and 
note  ;  wheel-barrow  men,  100  ;  "  Venus 
de  Medici "  at,  82 ;  Congress  driven 
from,  133,  183,  184;  Lafayette  at,  218'; 
Federal  Convention  at,  417,  418  -Noah 
Webster  lectures  at,  430-432;  Fitch's 
steamboat,  434,  435  and  note ;  proces 
sion  at,  492-494;  proposed  as  seat  of 
Government,  503,  581 ;  Washington  at, 
538. 

Phocion.     Letters  of,  127. 

Pickering,  Timothy.  Ordered  to  clip 
coin,  192  and  note ;  letter  from  Web 
ster,  429,  430. 

Pierce,  William,  420. 

"Pilgrim's  Progress,  The,"  15. 

Pillory,  100. 

Pinckney,  C.,  365,  366,  420,  439. 

Pinckney,  C.  C.,  420,  439,  440,  449. 

Pine,    the    artist.     Brings    first   cast   of 
"Venus  de  Medici"  to  United  States, 
82 ;  Mrs.  Pine's  lottery,  81,  note. 
•*     Pirates.     Refugees  turn,  112. 

Pistareen,  191. 

Piscataway,  123. 

Pistole.     Value  of,  191. 

Pitt,  William,  239-243. 

Pittsburs,  67,  68,  note,  148. 

Pittsfield,  Mass.,  326. 

Political  economy.     Not  known  in  1784,  i 
25. 

Polypotamia.     A  proposed  State,  166. 

Population  of  United  States,  9,  8.  11 ;  of 
New  York  city,  52,  64,  note  ;  of  Albany, 
59 ;  of  Boston,  64,  note ;  of  Philadel 
phia,  64,  note  ;  of  Kentucky,  149,  note  ; 
of  Tennessee,  155 ;  of  Massachusetts, 
300,  note ;  of  New  Hampshire,  341 ; 
centre  of,  556,  558 ;  progress  of,  562. 

Portland,  Me.,  4. 

Port  Roseway,  123. 

Portsmouth,  Va.,  273. 

Posts,  frontier,  209,  234,  235,  240,  504. 
^    Post-office,  35,  39,  40,  41  and  note,  42 

and  note,  43  and  note,  365,  note. 
>     Postmaster,  40,  41,  480,  481,  566. 
.,    Post-riders,  40,  41,  43. 

Pot-ashes,  300. 

*  Potomac  river,  277,  278,  435,  558,  559, 
560,  581. 

Potowmachus,  584. 

Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  57. 


Pound  sterling,  23. 

Pownal,  Vt.,  327. 

President  of  United  States,  441-446,  451, 

526,  563,  564,  565. 
Presidential   election  of   1789,   525-529, 

534,  535,  note;  of  1880,  9,  note. 
Prisons.     Vile  state  of,  in  1784,  98-101. 
Princeton,  N.  J.,  132,  184,  503. 
Propeller,  screw,  515,  note. 
Providence,    R.   I.,   298;    paper  money 

troubles  at,  333-336  ;  Federal  rejoicings 

at,  494,  495. 

Prussia.     Treaty  with,  232. 
"  Public  Good."    Pamphlet  by  T.  Paine, 

154. 

Punishment  for  crime,  100,  101. 
Putnam,  Rufus.     Sketch  of,  505;  organ 
izes  Ohio  Company,  505-507  :  letter  to 

Washington,  603. 

"  Quadranaou,"  515. 

"  Quarter."     A  proposed  coin,  197. 

Quaker  memorial  on   slavery,  578,  579 

and  note. 

Quebec  founded,  594. 
Quincy,  Eliza  S.  M.,  47,  note. 
Quincy,  Josiah,  25,  45,  note. 
Quota,  358,  360,  448  ;  New  Jersey  refuses 

to  pay  her,  362,  363,  365,  366,  445. 

Raccoon-skins  used  as  money,  265. 

Ramsey,  David.  429. 

Randall,  477,  4f  8. 

Randolph,  Edmund,  390,  420,  438,  439* 

440,  441,  444,  452,  566. 
"Rap  half-pence,"  401. 
React,  George,  419,  440. 
Real  estate.    Made  legal  tender,  304,  343. 
Refugees.     Opposition    to    their  return, 

108-130. 

Regulators,  308,  311,  354,  355. 
Representation.     System  of,  in  old  Con- 

gress,  131,  132 ;  debates  on,  in  Federal 
onvention,  441-443,  446-451. 

Requisitions  on  the  Stares,  358. 

Revenue.  System  of  1783,  140-144,  356- 
358 ;  revenue  of  post-office,  41,  note, 
356,  note ;  system  proposed  by  Madison, 
545  ;  debate  on,  545-549. 

Revere,  Paul.  479. 

Rhode  Island.  Money  in,  23 ;  crime  in, 
100,  101 ;  rejects  impost,  144,  357  ;  dis 
franchises  Cincinnati,  173  and.  note; 
conduct  toward  Congress,  203  ;  discon 
tent  in,  330  ;  paper  money  troubles  in, 
331-341 ;  contempt  felt  lor,  392,  393. 

"Rhode  Island's  Faith,"  393. 

Rhubarb  unknown  in  1784,  97. 

Rittenhouse,  David,  285,  434,  504  and 
note. 

Roads.  Badness  of,  52,  54,  67,  68  and 
note. 

Robertson,  William,  37,  489. 

Rochefoucauld,  De  la.  Letter  from  Frank-  , 
lin  to,  284,  note. 

Rochester,  N.  Y.,  61. 

"Rogues'  Island,"  292. 

"Rough  Hewer,"  147. 

Roxbury,  Mass.,  319. 


620 


INDEX. 


Rozier,  Pilatre  de,  222. 

Kum,  Jamaica,  142,  545-547 ;  New  Eng 
land,  334. 

Rumsey,  James.  His  steamboat,  50,  435 
and  note,  436. 

Rutgers  vs.  Waddington,  219,  220. 

Rutland,  Vt.     Mob  at,  350-354. 

Rutledge,  John,  420,  441,  535,  note. 

Sabbath  in  New  England,  20,  note,  21, 

note,  24. 
Saint  Glair,  Arthur,  184,  508,  509,  511 

and  note,  512  and  note. 
Saint  John.     Refugees  at,  113,  114. 
Saint  Lawrence  river  discovered.  594. 
Saint  Louis,  4,  69. 
Saint  Mary's  river,  371. 
Salary  of  ministers,  34,  note;  of  Vice- 

President  and  congressmen,  543,  544. 
Salem,  Mass.,  218. 
Saratoga.     A  proposed  State,  166. 
Saratoga  Springs,  61. 
Sargent,  Winthrop,  509,  511  and  note,  512 

and  note.  513. 
Savannah,  Ga.,  288,  558. 
Schools   24-27. 

School-boys,  21-24,  26  and  note. 
School-masters,  21,  22,  24. 
Schools,  medical,  27,  28  and  note. 
Scioto  Land  Company,  511  and  note,  512, 

513  and  note. 
Scituate,  R.  I.,  336,  340. 
Sea  bury,  Bishop,  33  and  note. 
Secretary  of  War,  187,  251,  566. 
Sedgwick,  Catharine,  326. 
Sedgwick,  John,  326. 
Sedgwick,  Theodore.  326,  531,  560. 
Senate  of  the  United.  States.     See  under 

Congress. 
Sermons,  33,  35. 
Sevier,    John.     Character    of,    161-163, 

383-385. 
Sewall,  David.    Describes  conventions  in 

Massachusetts,  305,  note. 
Seymour,  396.  397. 
Shaftsbury,  Vt.     Mob  at,  330,  note. 
Shattuck,  Job.     Leader  in  Shays' s  rebel 
lion,  308,  309,  315,  316,  318,  note. 
Shaw,   Samuel.      Report   of   vovage    to 

China,  261,  262. 
Shawanese,  384. 

Shays,  Daniel.    Leader  of  Shays's  rebel 
lion,  310-330. 
Shays's  rebellion,  306-330. 
Sheffield,  Mass.,  327. 
Shepard,  General,  310,  311,  321-323. 
Shepherdstovvn,  Va.,  435. 
Sherman,  Roofer,  419,  441,  449,  451. 
Shilling  sterling,  23,  191,  402. 
Ships.     Taken  during  the  armistice,  240, 

241 ;  tonnage  of,  in  the  States,  duty  on, 

552,  note. 

Shops,  16,  17,  59,  149,  note,  273,  note. 
Shoes,  299. 

Sick.     Treatment  of  the,  30,  31. 
Signs,  16. 

"Sidney."  267,  268. 

Silver  coins,  189-191,  198,  403,  404,  note. 
Singletary,  477. 


Skins  used  as  money,  264. 

Slavery,  167,  253,  508,  552-554,  578,  579. 

Small-pox,  30. 

Smiley,  91,  456. 

Smith,  Adam,  25. 

Smith,  Merriwether,  275. 

Smuggling,  62,  63. 

Societies.  The  Philosophical,  105;  pa 
triotic,  289,  290  ;  agricultural,  167  ;  eco 
nomical,  313-315 ;  manufacturing,  536, 
537  ;  issue  money,  592. 

Somers,  William.  Builds  Arkwright  ma 
chine,  298. 

Sou  (French),  191,  400. 

South  Carolina.  Money  in.  23 ;  news 
papers  in,  27;  refugees  in,  128-130; 
Cincinnati,  173,  174 ;  paper  money  in, 
286,  287 ;  grants  impost,  357  ;  ratifies 
the  Constitution,  487. 

Spaight,  Richard,  420. 

Spain,  371,  372,  374,  375. 

Spanish  coins,  190. 

"Spartan,  A,"  291,  292. 

Specie.     Exportation  of,  294,  295. 

"  Spectator,  The,"  15. 

Speculation,  570,  note,  571  and  note. 

Speeches.  Number  made  by  delegates  in 
the  Federal  Convention,  421,  note. 

Spelling  reform  of  N.  Webster,  429,  430, 
432,  433. 

Spinning-bee,  62,  314,  537  and  note. 

Spinning-jenny,  296-298. 

Sports,  in' Virginia,  424,  425. 

Springfield,  Mass.,  61 ;  mob  at,  310,  311, 

320-322,  327,  328. 
j  "  Spy,  The  Massachusetts,"  37. 

Squibs,  federal,  467,  468  ;  antifederal,  469. 

Stamford,  Conn.,  116. 
,  Stage-coaches,  44,  45,  51. 
'  States  northwest  of  the  Ohio.     Plan  for 
laying  out,  165  ;  names  of,  165,  166  and 
note  ;  ordinance  regarding,  167,  253, 508. 

Statues.     Opposition  to  nude,  82. 

Steamboats,  433-436. 
|  Steam  navigation,  50,  222,  412,  note. 
j  Stebbins.     Leads  mob  at  Windsor,  Vt., 

351. 
!  Steel.     Tax  on,  434,  note,  549. 

Stockbridge,  Mass.,  327. 
|  Streets.     Of  Boston,  12,  13,  479  ;  of  New 
York  city,  55;  Philadelphia,  64  and 
note. 

j  Strong,  Caleb,  419. 
1  Stuart,  Gilbert,  81,  note. 

Suffolk,  Va.,  273. 

Sugar,  143,  264. 

Sully,  Thomas,  81. 

Superior,  Lake,  discovered,  595. 

Surinam,  205. 

Susquehanna  river,  211,  212,  556,  557, 
558,  559,  560,  501. 

Sylvania.     A  proposed  State,  165. 

Symbert,  the  painter,  81,  82. 

Symmes,  J.  C.  Buys  land  where  Cincin 
nati  stands,  515,  516. 

Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  61. 

Tarleton,  128. 

Tarry  town,  N.  Y.,  58. 


INDEX. 


621 


Taxes,  141-143,  246,  300,  303,  312,  331, 
337,  405. 

Tea,  142,  143. 

"  Teague."  Popular  name  for  an  Irish 
man,  193  and  note. 

Telfair,  Edward,  535,  note. 

Tellier  plains,  385. 

Tender  laws.  Paper  money  as  legal  ten 
der,  285,  286,  288,  289,  293  ;  land  as  a 
legal  tender,  304;  specie  tender,  312, 
343,  352,  353. 

Tennessee,  158,  157-163;  called  Frank 
lin,  263,  264,  383-385. 

Test  oath  in  Ehode  Island,  339,  340. 

Theatre.  Opposition  to,  in  Massachusetts, 
83,  93-95  and  note ;  theatre  at  Balti 
more,  83-85;  at  Philadelphia,  86,  87, 
90-92  and  note  ;  in  New  York,  87-89  ; 
use  of  opera-glasses,  564,  note. 

Thomas,  8.  E.  On  ocean  voyages,  51, 
note. 

Thackeray,  W.  M.,  225,  note. 

Thurston?  Charles,  275-277. 

Tiles,  scriptural,  14. 

Tipton,  384. 

Titles.    Debate  on,  in  Congress,  540-542. 

Toasts,  133  and  note. 

Tobacco,  208,  232,  242,  246,  273,  285,  286, 
521. 

Tomatoes,  97. 

Tories,  the,  107-113, 115. 119, 121, 123,124. 

Towns.  In  New  England,  61,  62;  in 
New  York,  61;  in  Ohio  valley,  148, 
149  and  note. 

Trade.  State  of,  205-207,  225,  226,  234- 
236,  242,  243,  246-250,  255,  256,  257,  258, 
272,  273,  276,  337,  361 ;  trade  conven 
tion.  277,  280,  281. 

Travel  in  1784,  44-51  and  note. 

Treasury,  The  United  States,  209,  250, 
251,  255. 

Treaty  with  England,  103,  107,  108,  117, 
note,  371-374 ;  with  Holland,  Sweden, 
and  Prussia,  232  ;  with  Spain,  372-374, 
377 ;  with  the  Moors,  412 ;  with  the  In 
dians,  597. 

Trees.     Great  size  of,  in  Ohio,  70,  note. 

"Trevett*s.  Weeden,"  337-339. 

Trenton,  N.  J.,  204,  218,  502,  538,  539. 

"Trimmers,"  128. 

Trimountain.     A  name  for  Boston,  11. 

Tripoli,  406-408. 

Troy,  N.  Y.,  58. 

Trumbull,  John,  82. 

Trumbull,  Jonathan,  529,  note. 

Tucker,  Thomas  T.    Speech  on  titles,  541. 

Tunis,  407,  408. 

Tupper,  Benjamin,  323,  505-507. 

Turkey,  407,  408. 

Twining,  Nathaniel,  584  and  note. 

Tyler,  "Royal,  329. 

Tyler,  Va.,  279. 

United  States,  The.  Powers  reserved  by 
the  States,  130  ;  jealousy  of  the  States, 
206,  207  ;  committee  of,  210  ;  ignorance 
of  foreigners  regarding,  224,  225  and 
note  ;  foreign  loans,  228,  229,  239  ;  feel 
ing  in  England  toward,  225,  226  and 


note,  245 ;  satires  on,  250,  436  ;  debt 
of,  139  and  note,  365  and  note ;  bound 
ary  of,  371. 

Vaccination,  30. 
I  Van  Berckel,  509. 

Vattel.     "Law  of  Nations,"  15. 

Vegetables  unknown  in  1784,  17. 

"  Venus  de  Medici."  Thought  indecent. 
82. 

Vermont.  Shelters  Massachusetts  reb 
els,  329  ;  formation  of  State  of,  347  ;  dis 
content  in,  347-350  ;  paper  money  trou 
bles  in,  350-355. 

"Via  Sacra,"  515. 

Vicar  of  Bray,  115,  128. 

Vice-President  of  United  States,  526-530 ; 
salary  of,  543. 

Vincennes,  148,  379,  380,  601,  note. 

Vining,  John,  558. 

Virginia.  Money  in,  23  ;  religious  toler 
ation  in,  33 ;  manners  and  customs  of 
the  people,  72-74  5  cedes  western  land, 
150,  154 ;  grants  impost,  154  ;  state  of 
trade  in,  272-277  ;  boundary  commis 
sion,  277,  278;  calls  a  convention  of 
States,  279-281 ;  paper  money,  289  and 
note;  approves  call  for  Federal  Con 
vention,  381,  382 ;  state  of  parties  in, 
488 ;  ratifies  the  Constitution,  492 ; 
choice  of  electors,  526 ;  discontent  in, 
593. 

Virginia  plan,  The,  for  a  Federal  Govern 
ment,  438-444,  446. 

Voight,  434  and  note. 

Voltaire,  223. 

Voyages,  ocean,  51  and  note ;  down  the 
Ohio,  69 ;  down  the  Mississippi,  70, 
376,  412,  note,  520,  521,  523,  524. 

Wabash  expedition,  386,  387. 

Wadsworth,  Colonel,  396,  397. 

Wages,  96,  98. 

Wampum,  59. 

Wanton.     Leads  mob  at  Newport.  335. 

Warren,  E.  I.,  336. 

Ward,  Artemas,  307. 

Watson,  Bishop  of  LlandafF,  230,  231. 

Watts,  15,  24. 

Wayne,  Anthony,  90,  91. 

Washington.     A  proposed  State,  166. 

Washington  county,  K  I.,  341,  344. 

Washington  city,  D.  C.,  562. 

Washington,  George.  Farewell  to  his 
officers,  104 ;  called  "  American  Fa- 
bius,"  103 ;  resigns,  106  ;  befriends  T. 
Paine,  75,  note,  154;  urges  half-pay, 
177 ;  action  regarding  Newburg  Ad 
dresses,  183  ;  remarks  on  the  currency, 
193  and  note  ;  goes  to  Federal  Conven 
tion,  417,  418  •  signs  the  Constitution, 
453  ;  abused  by  '  Anti  federalists,  466, 
467 ;  elected  President,  543 ;  inaugu 
ration  of,  530-540;  his  life  at  New 
York,  564,  565 ;  his  eastern  tour,  565, 
566. 

Webster,  Noah,  26  and  note,  76,  80  and 
note  ;  character  of,  428  ;  his  spelling 
reform,  428,  429  ;  his  book  ridiculed, 
430-432. 


622 


INDEX. 


Webster,  Pclatiah,  96,  note,  284,  285. 

Weeden,  John.  Kefuses  Rhode  Island 
paper  money,  338,  339. 

Weems,  Mason,  230,  231. 

"  Well-born."  Nickname  for  the  Fed 
eralists,  467,  469-471. 

West,  Benjamin,  81  ;  in  Italy,  225  and 
note. 

West  Point.  186. 

West  Stockbridiie,  Mass.,  325,  326. 

Whale-fishery,  68  and  note,  243. 

Whale-oil,  235,  243,  246. 

Wheat.     Cost  of,  96. 

Wheel-barrow  men,  100. 

Wheeler.  Leader  inShays'srebellion, 307. 

Whigs,  108,  110,  118,  119,  123,  201. 

Whipping-post,  100. 

Whiskey.     Used  as  money,  264. 

Whitehill,  90,  456,  459,  460,  471. 

Wilkinson,  James.  Opens  navigation  of 
the  Mississippi.  520,  523. 

Williamson,  Hugh,  420. 

Williamstown,  Mass.,  326. 

Willet,  Marinus,  527. 


Wilson,  James.  Character  of,  421 ;  nick 
names  for,  464  ;  burned  in  effigy,  475  ; 
debates  in  Federal  Convention,  441, 
443,  448,  452. 

Windsor,  Vt.,  351. 

Woodbridge,  N.  J.,  123,  124. 

Woodstock,  R.  I.,  537,  note. 

Woodstock,  Va.,  562. 

Worcester,  Mass.  Tories  at,  116  ;  mob  at, 
306,  307,  310-313,  316,  317,  319. 

Worthington,  Mass.,  326. 

Wyoming,  210,  211 ;  sufferings  of  the 
settlers  in,  211-216. 

Wythe,  George,  390,  420,  491. 

Yassous  river,  372. 

Yates,  Abraham,  508. 

Yates,  Peter,  496. 

Yates,  Robert,  418,  note,  419,  440,  451. 

"  Yorick,"  135,  136, 

York,  Duke  of,  437  and  note. 

Yorktown,  557. 

Youghioghany  river,  514,  note. 

Young,  Edward,  15. 


END   OF   VOLUME   ONEc 


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